
Class __ J3V...1 JLirO, 
Book____ G^Zi 
Copyright^' 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



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REV. S. H. GREENE, D.D., L.I..D. 



THE 
TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY SCHOOL 



Sunday School Board Seminary 
Lectures 

COURSE NO. 3 



Delivered at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 
Louisville, Ky„ December U-J8, \ 903 



. .. 



SAMUEL H. GREENE, D.D., LL,D. 
Pastor Calvary Baptist Chinch 
Washlngt3n;Dl C. '. . 



Price, 50 cents, postpaid. 



Sunday School. Boabd 

Southern Baptist Convention 

Nashviixe, Tennessee 



S5 if*) 3 



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,\/\S»0 



&15 



THE SEMINARY LECTURES 

Delivered at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louis- 
ville, Ky. Published and for sale by the Sunday 
School Board of the Southern Baptist 
Convention, Nashville, Tenn. 

J* 
Three Books. !2mo. Cloth. Each, Postpaid, 50 Cents 



PASTOR AND SUNDAY SCHOOL. W. E. Hatcher, D.D. Illus- 
trated, pp. 180. 
PASTORAL LEADERSHIP OF SUNDAY SCHOOL FORCES. A. F. 

Schauffler, D.P r pp. 17*1 
¥Jl£ TV/E^TIETH CENTURY SUNDAY SCHOOL. S. H. Greene, 
D.D., LD.D. pp/ 151i 



4 < c "Uniform m Size and Binding 

J* 

BAPTIST SUNDAY SCHOOL BOARD 
Nashville, Tennessee 



Copyright by the Sunday School. Board 
of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1904 



PREFACE. 



The lectures here presented were delivered be- 
fore the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 
Louisville, Ky., on December 14-18, 1903. They 
are now published at the request of the Sunday 
School Board of the Southern Baptist Conven- 
tion. Prepared amid the cares and anxieties of a 
busy pastorate, they represent no attempt at a 
literary exhibit or a theological discussion. It is 
hoped, however, that they reveal somewhat eon- 
Q£ . ditions of mind and heart under which a great 
Sunday school has been gathered, organized, and 
worked. They represent an endeavor from with- 
in rather than from without, problems studied 
one by one as they presented themselves in actual 
work. Whatever may be said in criticism of the 
message, spirit, organization, or method here em- 
phasized must find its answer in the work accom- 
plished. If these lectures shall help in any de- 
gree to impress upon the ministry of to-day and 
to-morrow the true dignity and significance of 
Sunday-school work, I shall be more than repaid. 
May God give to the little book his own blessing 
as it goes forth on its mission. 

I cannot soon forget the large and sympathetic 
hearing accorded me on the occasion of my recent 



4 PREFACE. 

visit to the Southern Baptist Theological Semi- 
nary by the faculty, students, and pastors of the 
city and state; nor can I refrain from express- 
ing my appreciation of the growing excellence and 
influence of this great school. The history of the 
past and the administration of the present alike 
tend to make it a tremendous factor in the work 
of the new century. In the happy emphasis it 
has recently laid on training for Sunday-school 
work in our theological seminaries it has been 
true to its own great heritage and has placed the 
Christian world under obligation. Its present 
work for the denomination it represents and 
Christianity at large is of incalculable value. 
May God multiply its friends, means, and influ- 
ence. 

Calvaby Baptist Study, 
Washington, D. 0., January 1, 1904. 



Tabi/e of Contents. 
Preface. 

Page. 

Introductory Word 7 

Lectures— 

1. Its Text-book 13 

2. Its Leader 29 

3. Its Organization 51 

4. Its Method 74 

5. Its Inspirations 94 

Portrait of Author Frontispiece 

Appendixes — 

A. Annual Tea Ill 

B. Fortieth Anniversary of Sunday School of 

Calvary Baptist Church and Twelfth An- 
nual Dinner 112 

C. Children's Day Service 114 

D. Annual Roll Call Day 118 

E. Proceedings of Teachers' Bible Club of Cal- 

vary Baptist Church, Washington, D.C., 
November 24, 1908 120 



Issued Under the 
CONSTANCE POLLOCK 
PUBLISHING FUND 
Given March 8, 1902, by 
P. D. POLLOCK, LL.D. 
President of Mercer 
University, Macon, Ga. 

Book Number Three 



A WORD INTRODUCTORY. 



We are happy to present these lectures in book 
form to the Sunday-school world, and in this way 
to augment their power and enlarge the scope of 
their usefulness. The distinguished author needs 
no introduction, being known far and wide as a 
man of God, as an able minister of the New Tes- 
tament, and as " a workman that needeth not to 
be ashamed " in all the phases of church life and 
work. 

The lectures speak for themselves better than 
any one can speak for them. Incidentally, they 
uncover in part the life and machinery at work 
in Calvary Baptist Church, at Washington, D. 
C. Dr. Greene speaks from the heart, and, nat- 
urally enough, draws his illustrations from the 
life of this great church, in which he has wrought 
for nearly a quarter of a century as a wise mas- 
ter builder. His Sunday school is a tremendous 
force and factor; but behind the school, or in it 
or through it, his church is a mightier force and 
factor; and yet any comparison may be unjust, 
for the Sunday school is only the church in lofty 
service of Bible study and for doing glorioiis 
things for God ? 



8 A WORD INTRODUCTORY. 

Calvary Baptist Church has really one of the 
great Sunday schools of the world — a school 
which in some respects, no doubt, leads all others. 
Adjoining the church building is a " Sunday- 
school house " three stories high, besides the base- 
ment; was built in 1894 at a cost of $100,000; 
and is pronounced the finest Sunday-school build- 
ing in the world. 

The church had a membership of 1,496, with 
a total Sunday-school enrollment of 2,000, in 
March, 1903; at present the membership is, re- 
spectively, 1,545 and 2,336. The school is in six 
departments, graded as set out in the lectures, 
each department well defined and complete in it- 
self, with its own teachers and officers and its own 
curriculum of study — all wrought into one conir 
pact and powerful organization, unified by the 
oneness of spirit and purpose in all its parts. In 
the whole school there are five general officers, six 
associate superintendents, forty-seven assistants to 
all officers, eighty-five teachers — all of whom, are 
under the able management, as superintendent, of 
Mr. W. S. Shallenberger, Second Assistant Post- 
master General, who carries into his Sunday- 
school management the same fine business meth- 
ods and ability that have made him so efficient 
in his public service. The Adult Department in 
itself numbering, with its own teachers and offi- 
cers, nearly 1,000, is one of the most conspicuous 



A WORD INTRODUCTORY. 9 

features in this great school, and has solved the 
problem of enlisting young men and others, in the 
study of the word of God. The school raises and 
expends annually within itself about $2,500, and 
furnishes a harvest field ripe and ever ripening 
all the year round with constant conversions and 
ingatherings to the kingdom of God. 

This exhibit, though brief and inadequate, 
shows that these lectures present no mere theory, 
glittering and untried. It is not an organization 
on paper merely, but, rather, a living organism, 
pulsing and throbbing with the very life of God. 
Calvary Baptist Church, under the masterful lead- 
ership of its pastor, so far as they are concerned 
in their own community, have solved the Sunday- 
school problem and made themselves a mighty 
power for God at the nation's capital and at the 
very heart of the national life. 

All this has been done — not in imitation of oth- 
ers, not in following the plans and regulations laid 
down by others, but — simply in the working out 
of great forces from within. The pastor, in touch 
with the divine and endued with the divine, is the 
organific power in it all; and what wonder, when 
he comes to talk, that the people hear him gladly 
and fairly tingle under the power of his simple 
story? Who can tell so well the processes of the 
mill as the miller who greets you at the door? 

Dr. Greene believes that the Sunday school is 



10 A WORD INTRODUCTORY. 

worth while; believes with the intensity of con- 
viction that, as an institution, it deserves the ear- 
nest thought of our ablest leaders; and that the 
school of Calvary Baptist Church is the strate- 
gic point for church activity and for the pastor 
to rally and marshal his forces for work and war- 
fare. 

These lectures, therefore, are born of convic- 
tion; and their delivery was an eventful occasion 
in the history of the Southern Baptist Theological 
Seminary, at Louisville, Ey. The chapel in Nor- 
ton Hall was filled to the utmost capacity, even 
at the afternoon service, while at night it would 
not hold the immense crowd that thronged to hear 
this man tell in his simple way of the glorious 
possibilities in the Sunday school of the twen- 
tieth century. While in book form the winsome 
and magic presence of the preacher will be missed, 
yet even the printed page will stir many thousands 
of hearts in the wider sphere of the reading world 
throughout the coming years, giving uplift, new 
ideals, larger conception, nobler endeavor. 

The Appendix shows a real teachers' meeting 
in actual operation. Its use was kindly allowed 
by the pastor and the Bible Teachers' Club of 
Calvary Baptist Church. It was stenographically 
reported, and reproduces the service just as it ac- 
tually occurred. It serves as an illustration, and 
shows what can be done in the way of teaching 



A WORD INTRODUCTORY. 11 

teachers and of studying together the lesson for 
next Sunday. 

As one reads these lectures, he must feel that 
the pastor is the key to the situation; that he Js 
the solution of the Sunday-school problem; that 
work — earnest, persistent, tactful — will bring 
things to pass. What the pastor does and what 
he can get others to do is the thing that wins. 
What a field it all opens to the man of God who 
stands at the threshold of the twentieth century 
to lead onward for the kingdom of the Lord Je- 
sus ! The world will hear the man talk who has 
brought things to pass and who can bring to pass 
yet other achievements. 

These lectures in book form will take their place 
with the two former courses by Dr. Hatcher, of 
Virginia, and Dr. Schauffler, of New York. Those 
have won their way as books; are popular, use- 
ful, and successful. This third course will be be- 
hind the others in nothing, and will surely hold 
its rank side by side with them as the seminary 
lectures on Sunday-school work. 

All three courses, as companion volumes, are 
issued under the Constance Pollock Publishing 
Fund, given to the Sunday School Board of the 
Southern Baptist Convention by Pres. P. D. Pol- 
lock, of Mercer University, as a memorial of his 
daughter; Constance, whose life, like a fragrant 



12 A WORD INTRODUCTORY. 

flower in the garden, opened and then closed while 
still fresh with dew of the early morning. 

The production of these volumes is a noble 
union of forces — churches, preachers, educational 
institutions and publishers, all joining hands and 
hearts to send this mighty word down the centu- 
ries for the better study of God's word, for the 
better training of God's forces, and for the bet- 
ter doing of God's work. This volume is now sent 
forth as its predecessors were sent forth, each to 
tell its own story, to fulfill its own mission, to 
work out its own achievements in doing honor to 
the Christ of God. 

Secretary's Office, Sunday-School Board, 
710 Church Street, Nashville, Tenn. 



The Twentieth Century Sunday-School. 



LECTURE I. 

ITS TEXT-BOOK. 

Mr. President and Brethren: 

I have accepted with great diffidence the invita- 
tion of the faculty to address yon on " The Mas- 
tery of the Sunday-school Problem by the Pastor." 
I am not entirely unmindful of the importance 
of the subject or the opportunity of the occasion. 
The wise and timely utterances of the honored 
brethren who have preceded me in this lectureship 
constitute by their excellence a peculiar embar- 
rassment. It is not easy to add to the wealth of 
truth they uttered or find an emphasis equaled 
by their own personality and achievement. Nor 
can I forget that I am addressing men who are 
to help in no mean degree to create the religious 
thought and life of their times. If in the great- 
ness of the occasion I should sometimes mis-speak 
myself, you will credit it to a keen appreciation of 
the dignity of those I attempt to serve. 

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is 
to be congratulated on the wisdom and generosity 



14 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

which established this lecture course. It recog- 
nizes a most important and inspiring department 
of christian work and undertakes to train the 
coming ministry to appreciate and honor it. I 
trust the day is not far distant when all our theo- 
logical seminaries will give recognized place to 
the work of the Sunday-school in their courses 
of study. The most practical suggestion I have 
yet read in this direction was made by your hon- 
ored president in a recent article in the Sunday 
School Times. 

Allow me to say at the outset that I am not 
a Sunday-school expert, but a plain pastor, who 
has met some of the problems in this great de- 
partment of church work and attempted to solve 
them from the inside in his own homely way, 
aided by royal helpers not a few. 

There are two mighty considerations behind all 
our proposed discussion : First, the fact of an au- 
thoritative revelation of God and his law; sec- 
ond, that revelation made dominant and oper- 
ative in a human life. Gad's word and God's 
man are the forces to which I shall invite atten- 
tion in the first and second lectures of this course, 
since all later considerations spring from these 
two. 

The fact of a lost world lies back of all chris- 
tian work, giving it impulse and meaning. The 
human heart is estranged from God, the mind 



ITS TEXT-BOOK. 15 

darkened, and the tastes perverted. From these 
conditions spring those misconceptions of what the 
real end of life is, and men are lost in the drift 
of the currents about them. This makes possi- 
ble the growth of a materialism in which money 
often becomes the goal of life and "get there" 
the watchword of business and professional en- 
deavor. Homage is paid too frequently to suc- 
cess rather than character, to money rather than 
manhood. This spirit shades the instruction of 
the home, influences social relationship, and 
threatens to subordinate, both the impulse of love 
and worship, to the feverish struggle for the things 
that pass away with their using. The love of 
money continually tempts men to betray judg- 
ment and conscience in many a business mani- 
festly wrong, as sadly illustrated in the awful 
crime of the liquor traffic. Selfishness is the com- 
mon foe of every man. It stands in the way of 
honest confession, reconciliation, worship, and 
service. Its frostbite withers the noblest aspira- 
tions and hopes in their very beginnings. It 
steals away the dignity of individual life, robs the 
home of its warmth and power and the State of 
its high mission and glory. The perversity and 
selfishness of a wicked heart is the problem the 
Christian worker must face. How shall it be won 
back to purity and to God ? I have recently read 
that "light — and especially concentrated, actinic 



16 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

light derived from the sun — is a specific in the 
treatment of lupus, chronic ulcers, and other de- 
structive lesions of the skin." What the world 
needs is the concentrated light from the u Sun of 
righteousness " on the ulcer of humanity. " Unto 
you that fear my name shall the Sun of right- 
eousness arise with healing in his wings." It is a 
significant fact that two great healing agencies 
now especially emphasized by the medical frater- 
nity are sunlight and the open air, both as old as 
time and both free to the smallest and the hum- 
blest. So it is becoming more and more appar- 
ent that the remedy for the world's trouble is no 
modern nostrum, but getting the patient into the 
sunlight of God's truth. There is an old Book 
in every home that tells it all. It claims, to be 
divine. Its spirit and messages substantiate the 
claim; while its power to enlighten, purify, and 
save, stamps it forever as the word of God. " The 
entrance of thy word giveth light." I desire, 
then, in this first lecture of the present course to 
lay emphasis on 

THE TEXT-BOOK. 

Its Authority. — Fortunately there is no occa- 
sion in this presence to discuss the existence of 
God or the inspiration of the Scriptures, for you 
profoundly believe in both, as I do. There is a 
danger, however, that we subscribe to these truths 



ITS TEXT-BOOK. 17 

and yet fail to comprehend their tremendous 
significance. Here is life, authority, command. 
Here we have the fundamental working facts with 
which the christian minister has to do. There 
will be temptation to divide authority with the 
world or tamper with it ourselves, but always and 
everywhere this one Book is to be to you the word 
of supreme authority. As such, you are to rever- 
ence it, study it, obey it. God hasi spoken. It 
is yours not to legislate, but to submit. Let no 
irreverent criticism swing you from your anchor- 
age in the eternal truth of God as revealed in this 
dear old Book. It will abide. " Heaven and 
earth shall pass away, but my words shall not 
pass away." On the triple doorways of a great 
cathedral in Milan, Italy, there are three inscrip- 
tions spanning the archway. Over one is carved 
a beautiful wreath of roses, and underneath are 
the words: "All that which pleases is but for a 
moment." Over another is sculptured a cross, 
upon which we read: "All that which troubles is 
but for a moment." But underneath the great 
central entrance of the main aisle is the inscrip- 
tion : " That only is important which is eternal." 
This Book teaches of the things eternal. It is 
the only text-book on the subject. "The things 
which are seen are temporal ; but the things which 
are not seen are eternal." Here in this Book is 
the ultimate, unchanging word of authority in our 



18 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

work. The lack of a clean-cut conception of and 
abiding loyalty to this authority has disturbed 
the peace and the power of many a life. We need 
few things more in our ministry than a wholesome 
sense of God's right to us. " To obey is bettor 
than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of 
rams." Schiller sang well when he said : 

" To him who wears the cross 
The first great law is : To obey." 

The arrow may be feathered with history, sci- 
ence, or philosophy ; but the arrow itself, head and 
stock, must be from the quiver of God's eternal 
truth and sent forth at his command. All mat- 
ters of human wisdom and apparent expediency 
must be subordinated to the expressed will of God. 
The one great vital question to us and the world 
is : " What saith the word ? " High above the 
Babel of flippant criticism and unholy doubt, the 
ebb and flow of human opinion, I hear the clear, 
ringing interrogation of our Baptist fathers: 
" What saith the word ?" I counsel you to write 
that interrogation in large letters on the walls of 
your study, that it may call you each day to the 
presence of God and the word of his law. In this 
word you are to find that supreme authority born 
of absolute truth, backed by omnipotent power, 
and illustrated in centuries of christian expe^ 
rience. " It shall not return unto me void, but 



ITS TEXT-BOOK. 19 

it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall 
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." 

Its Practical Value. — A strange mixture is this 
life of ours. I cannot wonder that Lowell turned 
from his study of man to exclaim : " Three-fifths 
of him genius and two-fifths sheer fudge ! " It 
is easy to lose our perspective and see things out 
of place, to repeat generation after generation the 
follies and sins of the past, when the conditions 
of peace and power are so simple that "he who 
runs may read." The real trouble is not so much 
with our conditions as with ourselves. 

" Men at some time are masters of their fates; 
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, 
But in ourselves, that we are underlings." 

What are the facts ? " There is nothing new 
under the sun." The weeks and the seasons come 
and go as they did when Adam and Eve first looked 
with wondering eyes on the new world about them. 
The laws of the universe have never been revised, 
though men attempt sometimes to restate them 
in the language of to-day. The old life with its 
new face and name and place is fronting the prob- 
lems of weariness, suffering, sin and death as it 
did in the long ago. There are no burdens, losses, 
mistakes or fears that are new, save in minor de- 
tails. In the light of this I come to emphasize 
the fact that the Bible is the most intensely prac- 



20 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

tical Boole in all the world. In the fundamental 
truths it undertakes to teach it is as fresh and 
timely as though it were written yesterday. The 
world has not outgrown its wisdom, though it may 
have neglected it. What is needed to cure the 
hurt of the world is not new legislation, but obe- 
dience to existing laws. My brethren, the mighty, 
unfailing remedy for aching hearts, ruined homes, 
and disordered communities is committed to your 
keeping in this blessed Book. The personal ac- 
ceptance of its message and spirit will settle 
every question now agitating the world. I chal- 
lenge you to find anywhere so much practical wis- 
dom fitted to the need of the twentieth century, 
uttered in so few words, as Christ gave in his em- 
phasis on the two great commandments. Get 
right with God and your neighbor! What more 
needs to be done? All else is but work in detail. 
I charge you to remember that the message of this 
Book strikes at the very root of the world's trou- 
ble. With what humbled dignity and confidence 
ought you to go, who bear its leaves of healing! 
A celebrated physician said to me some months 
since that now, after years' experience in the use 
of antitoxin in the cure of diphtheria, "I have 
never lost a case if called early in its develop- 
ment. I go with absolute confidence in that rem- 
edy/' So ought the pastor to go with the gospel 
message to the pulpit, the Sunday-school, and the 



ITS TEXT-BOOK. . 21 

home. how much the world needs the truth! 
" The truth shall make you free." I charge you 
to honor God in a simple, abiding faith in its 
power. The Decalogue is the very essence of all 
true law. Obedience to its letter and spirit will 
meet every possible need of the individual and the 
state. The world's trouble arises not from lack 
of truth and right law, but from the wayward- 
ness of men. It is given you, messengers, of the 
Cross, to sound the recall as you tenderly, ear- 
nestly, bravely declare to men the awful conse- 
quences of forgetting and disobeying God. It is 
the vital message of the hour, compared with 
which all others are small. God save you from the 
sophistries of men, give you clear vision of the 
situation, and courage to face the main issue! 
Listen not overmuch to the human speculations 
and gossip of the times. A shrewd humorist once 
remarked : " It is better not to know so much than 
to know so many things that are not so." 

This high conception of the practical need of 
the truth revealed in the Bible will emphasize the 
importance of the Sunday-school as it seeks to 
impart this truth to the children, the men and 
women of to-morrow. It requires no prophetic 
vision to see that the hope of the future lies in 
them. If we miss the children, the future is lost 
beyond all possible recall. The truth alone can 
save them. You are to be its messengers. The 



22 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

Bible is the most practical Book in the world, 
since it alone reveals the situation, points out the 
way of escape, awakens the nobler qualities in us, 
and offers helpfulness both human and divine. 

" Where the word of the king is, there is power." 
Here are "thoughts that breathe and words that 
burn." However humble the messenger of divine 
truth may be, there is an inherent power in the 
message itself. It "is living and powerful, and 
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even 
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of 
the joints and marrow, and is a dis corner of the 
thoughts and intents of the heart." The truth 
carries its own keen edge and sharp point. It 
somehow " pierces to the depths of consciousness 
and conscience, and reads and reveals the thoughts 
and intents of the heart; so that there is no cre- 
ated being that is not searched by it." However 
successful a man may be in covering his sins from 
his neighbors, this word makes him know that 
nothing is hidden from God. Many a text from 
humble lips, unaided by rhetoric or logic, has gone, 
like a Damascus blade to the heart and con- 
science; and in its hurt a lost soul has found him- 
self and God. 

" Get but the truth once uttered, 'tis like 
A star newborn that drops into its place, 
And which, once circling in its placid round, 
Not all the tumult of the earth can shake." 



ITS TEXT-BOOK. 23 

There is a marvelous power in its adaptation 
to human need. With all its faults, the heart of 
man recognizes its coming, as the sunburned 
flower recognizes the dew and rain. In its com- 
ing there is a rebuke to the evil within and with- 
out and a challenge to all that is good to come 
forth. The soul seems in its better hours cry- 
ing out with Tennyson: 

" And, ah, for a man to rise in me, 
That the man I am may cease to be ! " 

The truth takes us to its embrace as the mother 
takes the wayward but forgiven child, and with 
lullaby song hushes him to rest. brothers, 
it is the mother heart of God hidden away in the 
message you are called to bear! It is balm for 
the wounded, shelter for the homeless. Never did 
a child need mothering more than those to whom 
you are to go as the messengers of God. 

" We may not climb the heavenly steeps. 
To bring the Lord Christ down ; 
In vain we search the lowest Seeps, 
For him no depths can drown. 

" The healing of the seamless dress 
Is by our beds of pain ; 
We touch him in life's throng and press, 
And we are whole again/' 

Its Incarnation. — But the wonderful, signifi- 
cant fact is that this message, so authoritative 



24 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL, 

and practical, has been taken out of the abstract 
into the concrete in the coming of Jesus. Be- 
yond the law and above it stands the Life — the 
whole Book translated into flesh and blood — and 
"we beheld his glory, ... as of the only 
begotten of the Father." 

"And so the Word had breath, and wrought 
With human hands the creed of creeds 
In loveliness of perfect deeds, 
More strong than all poetic thought, 

" Which he may read that binds the sheaf 
Or builds the house or digs the grave, 
And those wild eyes that watch the waves 
In roarings round the coral reef." 

In this matchless, loving, triumphant life we 
have the climax of truth's power. " The Word 
became flesh, and dwelt among us." No man can 
have a vision of Jesus and remain what he was. 
He may not follow ; but henceforth he must know 
and feel what possibilities slumber within him, 
and there will rise in his soul the image of the 
man made possible in Jesus Christ. And the more 
he looks, the greater will the attraction be. I 
have seen it somewhere said that Correggio, when 
a barefooted boy, beheld one of Raphael's master- 
pieces; and as he gazed upon it and there stole 
into his boyish soul a sense of the painter's mighty 
meaning, the muscles grew tense, the breath came 
quick and hard as his own soul answered back to 



ITS TEXT-BOOK. 25 

that of the great painter; and as the possibilities 
of his own being began to dawn upon him, he 
cried out : " I, too, am a painter ! " So men gaze 
upon Jesus Christ, and as they look, become con- 
scious of slumbering possibilities within them- 
selves. During several delightful summers I have 
tarried for days at Interlaken, that I might feast 
my eyes on the wondrous beauty and majesty of 
the Jungfrau. Here, rising fourteen thousand 
feet above the sea, crowned with eternal snow, is 
one of the most impressive mountains of the world. 
It is fair in the morning light, increasingly at- 
tractive as the day wears on; but under the rays 
of the setting sun, bathed in its Alpine glow, it is 
beautiful beyond all description. So he who gazes 
on the matchless Christ is led on from beauty to 
beauty, until in life's setting hours the glory of 
God is over all. It is yours, my brethren, to 
unveil the beauty of his face and his truth ! 

" Christ's words are not only vital but vital- 
izing. We are prone to think there is little power 
in words without a voice, the magnetism of the 
man behind the speech. We think the world must 
be roused, as Luther awoke Germany, by the 
trumpet tongue; but the tongue that taught on 
Judean hills has been silent now for fifty gener- 
ations, and the gospel of Christ is still ' the power 
of God unto salvation to every one that believeth/ 
You read these words and there is life in them ; a 



26 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

soul in them speaks to your soul. You read the 
words of men, and you feel in rare cases that you 
are communing with master minds. You read 
Christ's words, and you feel the thrill of the life 
of God/' 

If in this introductory lecture I have awakened 
in any of you a fresher and larger appreciation of 
the Bible, so that you go forth to your ministry 
with a sublime confidence in its divine authority, 
its adaptation to human needs, the conviction that 
it is lighted and energized by omnipotent wisdom 
and power, then my object is accomplished. 
Thai which made the apostolic age radiant and 
triumphant was a simple, abiding conviction thai 
these things were so. The place you give this 
Book will be the measure of your future success. 
Doubt never made a great leader. Those who 
have led in the world's upward march have been 
men of faith — self -forgetful, generous, brave souls, 
who flung themselves with sublime confidence into 
the fight for God and humanity. That was good 
counsel of Goethe's : " Give us your convictions ; 
as for doubts, we have enough of them already." 
To most mortals the pathway of life lies amid 
the shadows; and some, unmindful of past oppor- 
tunities, find that " a shadow came and lingered 
where the sunlight stood before." How helpless 
and ignorant is life in its beginnings! What 
time, patience and labor are necessary to develop 



ITS TEXT-BOOK. 27 

the mind until it is fitted to grapple with the com- 
mon problems of life; and then, with all its train- 
ing, how many are its limitations ! How it stag- 
gers and halts before the great problems of sin, 
penalty, and the hereafter ! How slow are we to 
discover that the heart is more than the head; 
that faith is a higher faculty than reason ; that the 
sharpest eyes we have are under our jackets! 
And when the situation is known, we face the fact 
that the heart is not in normal condition, is not 
doing its natural work. The issues of life have 
been poisoned with selfishness, prejudice, and the 
fears born of sin. It is the alienated heart of the 
prodigal. Hence the need of that cry born of hu- 
man sorrow and penitence : u Create in me a clean 
heart, God." There is but one Book on heart 
cleansing. In it alone is the malady defined and 
its cure set forth. It is the divine " light cure " — 
light on a diseased heart, light on the fountain of 
cleansing. That which underlies the work of the 
christian ministry in all its departments is a pro* 
found, unfaltering conviction that the Bible is the- 
law and message of God, and so fitted to the con- 
duct of human life, that it is authoritative, ample, 
plain. The practical question to you then, is: 
" How shall I get this word of God into the hearts 
and minds of men, women and children ? " It 
is the burning question of the century. It gathers 
all other problems into itself. The issues most 



28 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

in the public mind to-day are but parts of this one 
larger question. When men hide this word in 
their hearts the cure for every evil has com- 
menced. Be true to the Bible in your thought, 
your utterance, your life. Without this your min- 
istry must utterly fail and Sunday-school leader- 
ship will become an impossibility. 



ITS LEADER. 29 

LECTURE II. 

ITS LEADER. 

The natural leader of the Sunday school is the 
pastor. Every great forward movement in the 
world's progress has found its center and impulse 
in a human life in which some truth has become 
incarnate — dominant. It was only as " the Word 
was made flesh, and dwelt among us/' that "we 
beheld his glory." Beyond the word stands the 
life. It is the realization in concrete form of 
the truth. The miracle of the incarnation sweeps 
down the centuries. " I in you, ye in me." This 
made Paul, Luther, Wesley the leaders of their 
times. Such life is irresistible. The sa,ved man 
is the completest commendation and vindication 
of the Savior of men. Such live the life, speak the 
language, do the work, share the experiences of 
their times with an unselfishness, joy and power 
unknown to the world. They are samples of the 
" new man in Christ Jesus." The motive, spirit, 
power and reward attract by the sharpness of con- 
trast with the world. It is an attraction unique, 
abiding and powerful. It lays hold of the inner- 
most soul of the pastor, sending him to each new 
day and task with the growing assurance of per- 



30 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

sonal redemption — a soul breaking forth into 
music : " Fve been redeemed, been washed in the 
blood of the Lamb." This is the first condition of 
the pastor's power. Without it all other gettings 
are comparatively small. This brings to him a 
peace whose girdings are power; a hope which glo- 
rifies the face, enriches the language and generates 
that humble kingliness born of abiding devotion 
to God and man. I gratefully remember a pas- 
tor to whose ministry I was greatly indebted in my 
early christian life. He had small opportunities 
for education, was not a natural student, knew 
little of rhetoric or logic, but lie lived his reli- 
gion beautifully and loved God and his fellow-men 
with a passionate love. He gave to the commu- 
nity a great, unselfish, glad service. He watched 
for souls with a tender, eager faithfulness I have 
never seen surpassed, and God gave him many. 
He built up a large church and seven of his young 
men entered the ministry of our Lord. One of 
his people justly remarked : " He had such a good 
time living his religion and seeking to divide it 
with others that he won us all." There may be 
success in the ministry without great talents or 
education, desirable as these may be; but there 
can be no success without that passion for souls 
born out of a deep, living, personal experience. 
Its intuitions are wonderful helpers into the fun- 
damental truths of the gospel, a heart knowledge 



ITS LEADER. 31 

surpassing the intellectual comprehensions and an 
understanding of human nature quick and sure. 
Instinctively such men feel a situation as they 
close in on a human soul. Uncle John Vassar 
was a humble, unlettered layman of remarkable 
power in winning souls. Coming to a certain town 
to assist the pastor in special meetings, he walked 
with him from the depot. On their way they 
passed a blacksmith's shop. " There/' said the 
pastor, " is the worst man in our village/' " The 
dear man, how God loves him ! " exclaimed Un- 
cle John, and breaking from the pastor he went 
to the shop. In a short time the smith had left 
the horse he was shoeing and was praying with 
Uncle John behind the forge as he there accepted 
Christ. Tact, persuasion and power are born from 
such a hunger for souls. Such heart conditions 
gather to themselves the germs of true theology. 

The first condition of success in your work is 
heart power. " Blessed are the pure in heart : for 
they shall see God." To " see God " in his world, 
his work, his church, and the unsaved about you 
is to work in the sunshine of his daily presence 
and strength. May God save you from a mere 
religious formalism, a mere intellectual acceptance 
of the gospel, and give you a heart warmed with 
a Christlike love. Not long ago the Interior had 
this good word to say : " What we need to-day is 
not new books, but a new kind of men. The man 



32 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

can always prove by his life what no philosopher 
can prove by his ratiocination. Force determines 
nothing; logic determines little; life determines 
everything that is of eternal moment. The man 
who cannot read John Stuart Mill's books can live 
Dwight L. Moody's life. The Revolution was not 
Bunker Hill and Saratoga and Yorktown, but 
Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry and George 
Washington. What the church of Christ needs 
to-day is not more exegetes, but more saints. 
Christian apologetics are forever shifting, but the 
defense of the faith forever remains the same — 
6 the man Christ Jesus/ " 

In an age of doubt the argument that cannot be 
gainsaid is the man who lives his belief quietly, 
bravely, unostentatiously. It is the privilege of 
every disciple so to live that men shall say : " If 
I cannot read Hebrew, I can read conduct. That 
man is in touch with God." Such a life becomes 
a covert from the tempest.. He stands unshaken 
himself and is a refuge to the weak. What he 
believes others will believe, because they believe 
in him. Thus the world finds in the christian 
man " a hiding place from the wind, a covert from 
the tempest." 

To live such a life and under God to lead men 
and women into such a life is the high privilege 
and duty of the christian minister. Out of such 
it is easy to build churches, Sunday schools, and 



ITS LEADER. 33 

to send the gospel to "every creature." All so- 
cial culture, intellectual strength, and financial 
power must be laid on the altar of such love and 
life before it becomes valuable in winning the lost 
world to God. " Keep thy heart with all diligence; 
for out of it are the issues of life." The thing 
behind your pastoral work and pulpit ministra- 
tion — greater than either — is your own God-saved 
life. A redeemed soul is the sum of all argu- 
ments for Christ. 

In what has been said of the vital necessity of a 
deep, personal, spiritual experience I trust none 
will suspect me of a willingness to belittle the 
value of the broadest intellectual development. 
There has never been a time when a liberal educa,- 
tion was so necessary to the christian ministry as 
to-day. A fair conception of the related truths 
of the Bible, the new points of the enemy's attack, 
the reasonable place of reverent criticism, the wid- 
ening sphere of christian activities, the growing 
intelligence of the laity, all demand a strong, 
scholarly, broad-minded ministry. Its strength 
and culture should not be less than that which 
gives leadership in other fields of intellectual ac- 
tivity. By reason of his intellectual strength and 
culture, the pastor should be in no sense inferior 
to the editor, the physician, the attorney, the 
judge. Academic and theological training should 
be demanded, and that supplemented by a con- 



34 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

stantly-widening knowledge of the Bible, the lit- 
erature of the day, and daily touch with the world's 
thought and movement. Such periodicals as the 
Eeview of Keview T s, the World's Work, the Liter- 
ary Digest, and kindred publications, should find 
an abiding place in the pastor's study. Your col- 
lege and seminary courses have, presumably, fixed 
in you habits of study never to be neglected and 
blazed out for you pathways of research to be faith- 
fully followed in later years. In the highest sense, 
you have just commenced your student's life. 
What you are to be, under God, depends on your 
own industry and courage as you follow the paths 
already indicated. 

Seek to be broad-minded in the best sense. No- 
where are fairness and candor more demanded than 
in the christian ministry. You will do well to 
remember that most men come to their work with 
more or less bias of mind, inherited and acquired. 
It will be fortunate to learn early in your minis- 
try that all the good and great did not come from 
your state, do not belong to your political party, 
or even to your denomination. Ask God to give 
you candor and charity. The mere partisan will 
command no abiding influence in the community 
where he works. He is greatest and wisest who 
recognizes the good in others, however much he 
may differ from them. This kind of poise, this 
devotion to principle rather than party, wins rec- 



ITS LEADER. 35 

ognition from all fair-minded people. The world, 
comes sooner or later to despise a mere bitter par- 
tisan, be it in polities or religion, and it ought to. 
Be the disciple of the truth and the open friend 
of all who love and seek it. He adorns and 
strengthens his denomination most who appre- 
hends the truth most clearly and lives it most 
sweetly. There are some whose ministry is so 
large and gracious that it floats, like the fragrance 
of flowers, far beyond the garden wall to bless all 
who pass by. Phillips Brooks, was an Episcopa- 
lian, but better than that, he was a Christian; 
and in the light of the latter fact, he ministered 
not to a denomination, but to a world. Seek to 
broaden your intellectual and spiritual horizon. 
Take the great world into your thought and af- 
fection; study the currents of its social and po- 
litical as well as religious thought; mark the 
widening of the Bedeemer's kingdom, of which 
our own great denomination is but a part. The 
address of Andrew Carnegie at the opening of 
Glasgow University last year on the industrial 
conditions of the world revealed the secret of his 
wonderful business success. His home and office 
were in Pittsburg, Pa., but he brought to that home 
and office such an ever-increasing knowledge of the 
worlds resources and movements along business 
lines that he caught every tide as it began to flow. 
We should covet for the ministry of the future 



36 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

that knowledge and sagacity which insures great 
leadership. 

The missionary spirit is a vital factor. He is 
pitiably weak and unworthy who seeks to hoard 
all his gettings for his own individual church. 
The fact is that the missionary spirit underlies 
all our work. It was love and endeavor for the 
world that led God to send us his only Son, and we 
must size up to that impulse or wither and die. 
Missions at home and abroad are the best vindi- 
cation of the church of Christ. It is a matter 
of the greatest moment that you should fling your- 
self with enthusiasm and joy into the great world- 
wide work of which your church is but a part. 
You owe it to yourself, your church, your denom- 
ination, your Lord. 

There should be a large place for applied Chris- 
tianity in this new century. Always and every- 
where the work of saving lost souls through faith 
in Christ is first. But it is also important to de- 
velop and vindicate the saved by a life of helpful- 
ness to others. Perhaps a fair criticism on some 
past work is that the convert was left without be- 
ing developed and utilized in the great practical 
fields of the world's higher needs. To love our 
neighbor as ourselves is to enter into life with him, 
study his problems, help lift his load. To do this 
we must be in touch with the social and industrial 
problems of our times, the rights of labor, the bet- 



ITS LEADER. 37 

ter life and homes of the poor, the tender minis- 
tries of mercy to the sick and the aged, the sup- 
pression of intemperance, the encouragement of 
christian education. In a word, we are to find 
practical, timely exercise for the sympathy and 
benevolence prompted by the spiritual life. Thus 
shall we vindicate the new life professed, prepare 
the way for the message of the gospel, and come 
into fellowship with the noblest souls about us. 

I commend to you the earnest study of human 
nature. Seek to know men. It was said of Je- 
sus : " He knew what was in man." It is a tre- 
mendous power. Put yourself intelligently, sym- 
pathetically in the other fellow's place; study his 
tendencies, inherited and acquired ; acquaint 
yourself with his environment, his helps, his hin- 
drances. It will make you wise and tactful. 
That was a good word spoken here two years ago 
by Dr. Hatcher on " Gumption." Much work 
fails from simple lack of hard, common sense. Be 
careful lest under the garb of high spirituality 
you drift into mere sentiment and blind impulses. 
Ask God to help you to put the best of your knowl- 
edge and your ripest judgment into the problems of 
jyour ministry. Remember you need " gumption " 
as well as piety. It is one of the virtues. One 
of the greatest American preachers when asked 
concerning the fitness of a certain brother for 
some practical work in the community, replied 



38 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

confidentially to his friend : " He is a dear, good, 
pious, leather-headed old fool." The pastor ought 
to be the most sensible and practical man in the 
community. It was not many years ago that to 
one of our own distinguished pastors there were 
referred for arbitration the differences between a 
street-car company and its employees, who had 
inaugurated a strike. His intelligence, candor, 
courage and integrity gave him the confidence of 
all concerned and brought them out of their trou- 
ble. I hardly need add that his ministry was a 
magnificent success wherever he served. Such 
men always win. 

It is hardly possible to overvalue that hind of 
ability which can combine the theoretical and the 
practical — put the abstract into concrete form. I 
commend to you the close study of men of admin- 
istrative ability. In these times, when much of 
our work is in the centers of population and 
churches become large, there is an absolute de- 
mand for much attention to the business side of 
church life and organization. Many churches have 
suffered from a lack of applied common sense to 
business methods. We have generally in our 
membership men who are making a legitimate 
success in their own affairs. They ought to give 
the best of their knowledge and experience to the 
church. It is the pastor's place to search them 
out and win them to the work. I know a church 



ITS LEADER. 39 

greatly blessed in its nine trustees. They are well- 
known and successful men from business and pro- 
fessional life — busy men. They meet once a 
month at the church at six o'clock p.m. and sit 
down to a course dinner paid for by themselves. 
With the beginning of the meal the records of the 
secretary are read; then follow reports from com- 
mittees concerning every department of the busi- 
ness side of the work — repairs, ushers, music, 
finance, benevolence, etc.; then communications 
are read and miscellaneous business is attended to, 
covering from two to four hours. The pastor 
meets with them whenever he wishes or they re- 
quest. It is remarkable how much good fellow- 
ship and business are combined in these hours. 
I need not say that this is a church of recognized 
prosperity and strength. If our members care 
for their own business better than they do for 
that of Christ's kingdom, it will be a poor recom- 
mendation to the on-looking world. This is a mar- 
velous age in which you are called to minister. 
Never has the world seen such combinations of 
brain and money, such tremendous strides along 
the lines of material prosperity. There must be 
a heart beat as strong, a courage as great, a vision 
as clear, if we are to commend our religious work 
to others. There is a large place in every com- 
munity for the church fired with intelligence, be- 
nevolence, courage and hope. Sensible business 



40 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

methods and healthy enthusiasm, lighted by a high 
spiritual life, will attract numbers to the congre- 
gation and to the Sunday school and aid greatly 
in simplifying the financial problems. 

Cultivate yourself socially. Mingle observantly 
with the intelligent and refined. A lady said to 
me recently of her physician : " I always feel com- 
plimented when he has been in my house, for he 
is every inch a gentleman. The neatness of his 
dress, the intelligence of his language, the grace 
of his manner, has a good influence on my chil- 
dren." Study to be always a high type of the 
christian gentleman. While you are faithful to 
the poor, do not forget the educated or the pros- 
perous. Be "no respecter of persons." Your 
ministry is to all. Happy is the pastor who min- 
isters with gentle grace lovingly to every element 
in his congregation. 

Cultivate hopefulness. Walk in the sunshine of 
God's promises; count up your blessings; study 
to be cheerful. There will be many a shadowed 
home where the sunlight of your face will be a 
light and benediction. 

" What can we do, o'er whom the unbeholden 
Hangs in a night with which we cannot cope ? 
What but look sunward, and, with faces golden, 
Speak to each other softly of a hope ? " 

Do not lend even your face to the enemy. I 
read this definition of a pessimist recently: "A 



ITS LEADER. 41 

man who has a choice between two evils and takes 
them both." 

May I suggest to yon the necessity of finding 
something for each individual member to do along 
the line of religions work? No trick of trade or 
skill of pastor can hold the varied elements of a 
church inactive long in peace. The secret of 
healthy nnity is found in vigorous service. Mr. 
Spurgeon once said : " I have a fox dog; and when 
he is loafing on the veranda, every passing fly will 
annoy him, until he spends his time and energy 
snapping and snarling. But let him get his eye 
once on a fox, and he doesn't mind all the flies 
in the world." Keep your people faced to the 
main issue — the salvation of the lost, the tender 
ministries of charity — and it will be wonderful 
how many eccentricities and differences will dis- 
appear. 

The same rule applies to the development of 
convert life. Will you pardon an illustration from 
personal experience? In the beginning of my 
first pastorate two young men were converted. I 
asked them to my study and proposed that we 
make a list of the young men we best knew who 
were unconverted and each of us take one as a 
subject of special prayer and endeavor, saying 
nothing outside of our own united effort. Before 
a fortnight had passed two of these had been con- 
verted. We took them into our Covenant Band, 



42 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

and they with us went forth again. Personal 
search sometimes revealed the fact that another 
had more influence with a certain man, and we re- 
adjusted the assignments. The work went on 
until seventeen young men had been saved and 
we were in the midst of one of the most gracious 
revivals the town had ever known. The same 
method in the early part of my present pastorate 
resulted similarly. We prayed with and for each 
other and then went forth, asking God to give us 
the message and show us the opportune way. It 
was the beginning of a movement under which 
more than one hundred young men professed con- 
version. If we can bring our membership thus 
to work, we .shall shake the communities with spir- 
itual power. 

I believe that individual evangelism ought to 
be the watchword of the new century. I am not 
disposed to discount the professional evangelist; 
he has his God-given place; but I am profoundly 
convinced that as a rule, the pastor and his peo- 
ple ought to do the work. The very endeavor pre- 
pares the church to be such a, spiritual mother as 
she cannot otherwise be. It is our prime busi- 
ness to be continually searching for souls. We 
need not revival spasms, but the kind of spiritual 
vigor that continues through all the year. I have 
been requested here to speak of personal expe- 
rience in my present pastorate as illustrating 



ITS LEADER. 43 

somewhat the possibilities in this direction. I do 
so with diffidence and the consciousness that we 
have fallen far below the ideal. In a pastorate 
covering twenty-four years we have received into 
church membership nearly three thousand mem- 
bers. About twelve hundred of these were by 
baptism. During that time there have been no 
evangelist or helper and no extra meetings. Each 
Sunday-evening service has been followed by an 
after meeting. The choir sings as the people who 
desire come from the auditorium of the church 
to the lecture room below. Then a brief, tender 
word is spoken and an opportunity is given for 
any desiring to seek Christ to manifest it. If 
responses follow, then comes an inquiry meeting 
afterwards. Our midweek prayer service gen- 
erally closes with an invitation to the unconverted. 
Once a year we observe Decision Day in the older 
departments of the Sunday-school. We owe much 
to the faithful individual work of our teachers and 
officers. It is a frequent occurrence for them to 
come to me with a scholar already won to Christ. 
If we could bring all our teachers and members 
to the high degree of efficiency attained by some, 
the results would be greatly increased. We have 
never resorted to high-pressure methods. Ear- 
nestly, quietly, prayerfully we have sought to win 
week by week. God has blessed the endeavor, and 
very few months have passed without conversions. 



44 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

Such work on the part of the individual mem- 
ber prepares him to shepherd the newborn soul 
lovingly and well, while at the same time it 
strengthens a love and courage in soul winning. 
what possibilities lie slumbering in the mem- 
bership of our churches! God speed the day 
when each individual member shall go forth with 
the high assurance of a God-given power of win- 
ning men! 

May I remind you that you are to be a citizen 
as well as a minister® While your time primarily 
is to be given to religious work, you are not to 
forget that you have duties and opportunities as 
a citizen of the foremost nation of the world. 
Piety is the true mother of high patriotism. 
Next to God, you belong to your country. None, 
therefore, should be more zealous in establishing 
righteousness in private and public life. The na- 
tion's great and brave are not found alone on the 
blood-red fields of war. There is a heroism pos- 
sible in common life which contributes not less to 
a nation's greatness. The sinews of great na- 
tional life are grown in humble plaees. The 
source of our greatness is not found in legislative 
halls, vast armies or navies, but in the home where 
the mother sings her christian songs and the fa- 
ther bows down to pray. These are at your door, 
a part of your parish; and so your fingers are 
touching daily the source of a nation's life. Your 



ITS LEADER. 45 

message, your prayer, your labor, your life are a 
contribution of no mean value to your country. 
Let the dignity of the work inspire you to intel- 
ligent, unselfish zeal. No man, however chev- 
roned, has a better right to walk the earth with 
kingly tread than the true christian minister. I 
look forward with humble pride to the contribu- 
tions of our great denomination to our country's 
life and honor in this new century. 

I counsel you to do your own thinking prayer- 
fully in the light of the Bible. Be a slave to no 
mere party. That was a brave word spoken long 
ago by a great statesman : " I had rather be right 
than to be President." There is hope in the grow- 
ing independent vote of our people, men brave 
enough to say to political leaders : cc Nominate 
good men, enact righteous laws, or we are against 
you." After all the noise and tumult, right, not 
wrong, is to win. 

" Truth is ever on the scaffold, wrong is ever on 

the throne; 
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind 

the great unknown 
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch 

above his own." 

Standing high above blind partisanship, study 
the questions of your times with a sincere pur- 
pose of finding the right. I am convinced that 
the christian minister, by the intelligence and 



46 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

fairness of his reasoning, the courage of his ut- 
terances, and the sweet spirit of his life, may con- 
tribute much to the solution of the moral issues 
involved in great questions before the people. 
The truth spoken in love must commend itself. 
The pulpit ought to be a sweet, strong factor in 
establishing national righteousness and lessening 
bitter partisanship. Its notes should ring clear 
and strong for those things which make for the 
purity, peace and welfare of all. 

You will soon be faced by the problem as to 
the proper division of time between study and 
pastoral visitation. The work of the study will 
be attractive. The laudable ambition to make the 
best possible sermons will seem to demand all 
your time. You will probably find that, while 
the pulpit ministrations attract numbers and 
awaken thoughtf ulness, the clinching of the nail 
in the individual life is not generally accom- 
plished in the pulpit, but in private, personal 
contact — a moment when, face to face with a hu- 
man soul, you are saying: "Why not now and 
here yield yourself to Christ ? " You will be led 
to ask the question, perhaps, " What is my main 
business in this community ? " and the answer will 
come : " To save souls." After some years of ex- 
perience, I am inclined to believe that for most 
men the early part of the day, until one p.m., 
may be given to the close, hard work of the study; 



ITS LEADER. 47 

the afternoons to pastoral visitation; the even- 
ings to meetings and miscellaneous work. The 
hard work of the study is an absolute necessity; 
it cannot safely be neglected. Pastoral visita- 
tion is equally. a necessity; they go hand in 
hand. Many of your most timely, practical, help- 
fid sermons will be suggested by your personal 
touch with the individual and the family. The 
close knowledge of the patient leads you to the 
required remedy. With tender taetfulness and 
vigor, seek souls from house to house. It is dif- 
ficult to lay down exact rules for details. Good 
sense and spiritual sympathy will suggest them. 
Pray as you go, and God will give you the oppor- 
tunity and the word. Seek people alone. A third 
person hinders, a,s a rule. You will find few peo- 
ple who are not willing to talk frankly with you 
concerning themselves if seen at the proper time 
alone. It is a delightful work. Many a home 
will be a mountain top of visions and glory to you. 
People are complimented in your coming. They 
conclude that you have a personal, not merely 
professional, interest in them. It gives you the 
hearts of the people and they come to trust and 
honor you. The place of misfortune, of sickness 
and of death will open a wide door of influence 
to a loving, tactful pastor. 

Eemember that the majority of those to whom 
you minister are poor, or comparatively so. It is 



48 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

only a small percentage of business men who make 
a success. The world goes hard with many, and 
they are heart-sore and discouraged. Be their 
sympathetic, sensible, unfailing friend. Kemem- 
ber them delicately in the pulpit prayer and ser- 
mon. Take them always with you in your min- 
istry. You will find jewels in unexpected places, 
and many an unrecognized, uncrowned child of 
the King. Shun not the youngest or the lowli- 
est. Years ago in pastoral work I came across 
a little girl and told her of the Savior's love and 
my wish that she might be his disciple. God gave 
us this child. She developed wonderfully and be- 
came a sweet Christian, and though an invalid 
and little seen in church, was- a factor larger than 
we realized in our work. I sat beside her not 
long before her death and she reminded me of the 
call many years before through which she was led 
into the kingdom; and then she said: "I have 
been an invalid most of the time since I united 
with the church and could help you but little; but 
I want to tell you that there has never been a day 
since, when I have not prayed for you in your work, 
asking that God might give to you the word to 
some other child like that once spoken to me, and 
that when you stood in the pulpit his blessing 
might go with the message. I shall pray for you 
as long as I live. Now I feel glad and safe as I 
face the valley of the shadow of death. ' I will 



ITS LEADER. 49 

fear no evil ; . . . thy rod and thy staff they 
comfort me/ " Then she went from us, with a 
smile on her pale, beautiful face, to be with God. 
You will find many a sweet, gracious helper- in 
unexpected places. Let no life or home be be- 
neath your notice or your tenderest ministry. 

Truth is never so beautiful, so irresistible, as 
when incarnate in human life. It was God in 
Mary's Son who drew all men unto himself. So 
it is with Christlike life. The better elements of 
human nature turn toward it as the grasses and 
the flowers turn to meet the sun. The dark night 
of human sin, sorrow and helplessness may usher 
in a morning when the " Sun of righteousness " 
rises in his glory. Make yourself after the di- 
vine pattern, and you will have a center of power 
and force of leadership within. Such life has 
marvelous attractions, a kind of personality that 
commands. Jesus said to Matthew: "Follow 
me." "And he arose, and followed him." What 
this seminary endeavors to do is to "mold such lead- 
ership on its spiritual, intellectual, social and 
practical sides— a mighty, inspiring, significant 
work. Appreciate, I beg you, the opportunities 
and duties of student life. There will be hours 
not a few, when you have drifted far beyond these 
sacred walls and uplifting associations:, when the 
helpers will be few and the discouragements will 
be many; when, humanly speaking, everything 



50 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

will depend on you, on your touch with God, on 
your faith in his work, on your unfailing passion 
for souls. then, be the man — God's man! 

Have I seemed to forget the main theme of 
these lectures? I trust not. Get the Booh and 
put it into the head and heart of a m<m till it 
burns, shines, rules, inspires; then put this new 
man into sensible, loving touch with the world, 
and you have made ready a leadership in the Sun- 
day school fit for the twentieth century — or any 
other. 



ITS ORGANIZATION. 51 



LECTURE III. 

ITS ORGANIZATION. 

Let us consider in this third lecture the organi- 
zation of the 'Sunday-school. The subject has 
been greatly emphasized in these late years. Given 
the Book and the man, and organization naturally 
follows. And yet organization, at its best, is de- 
pendent on the spirit which generates and moves 
it. When God created man from the dust — a 
marvel of possibilities — there was neither word, 
nor look, nor movement, until he breathed into 
his new creature the " breath of life." 

Some of you will face the problem of the small 
church and Sunday school where much organization 
is impossible and unnecessary. A mere handful 
must do the work. On such fields success depends, 
humanly speaking, almost entirely on the pastor. 
Often he must be superintendent, teacher and so- 
licitor, being in himself largely the center of intel- 
ligence, inspiration and power. Yet such work 
has its advantages not to be undervalued. The 
choicest fruit in the market is hand picked. 
The time and conditions favor close, personal ac- 
quaintance, helpful attentions impossible to the 
pastor of a large church. The intelligence, ear- 



52 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

neatness, piety and tact of the pastor will, little 
by little, attract sympathizers and helpers. The 
beginnings may be small; but good sense, hard 
work and spiritual courage will win out. Some 
of the best churches I have known sprang from 
such beginnings. " Despise not the day of small 
things." To make a desert place bud and blos- 
som is to have worked with God. I love the 
small churches. It was in one of them that I 
was reconciled to God and later was called into 
the ministry of our Lord. To that brave, loving 
pastor I owe more than to any other minister I have 
known. There was little organization; he was 
the center of it all, under God. I beg of you not 
to undervalue the importance and dignity of such 
work, for in fields like these many of the stal- 
wart laymen of our larger churches were con- 
verted and trained, and from such churches many 
of our foremost pastors have come. They have 
been, like the unrecognized but unfailing springs 
far up on the mountain side, sending their wa- 
ters to enrich and beautify the plains below. Hon- 
ored is the man who thus, in close touch with 
Nature and his fellows, ministers the word of life, 
gathering the little ones of the kingdom and shep- 
herding them until they are good soldiers of the 
cross. In these days of fever and haste, when 
beginnings are often lost in endings, it is well to 
recall the words of the great Teacher carefully 



ITS ORGANIZATION. 53 

and reverently, when he said, " The kingdom of 
heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which 
a man took, and sowed in his field ; " for after all, 
the lines of life have not been changed, and his- 
tory is repeating itself in you and me with slight 
alterations in face, date and locality. Life and 
character are made or unmade much as they were 
two thousand years ago. It is the simple work of 
sowing the "mustard seed." I pray you to re- 
member that he who cares for the day of small 
things has preempted all the days that follow. 
No great life or achievement comes by chance. 
Back of it somewhere will be found the mustard 
sower. I quite envy you who are to spend the 
opening years of your ministry in the blessed, 
quiet fields of the country, with time for medita- 
tion and prayer, large opportunities for study, 
ample place for cultivating your few parishioners 
in a reasonable way, and so helping to shape the 
thought and life of the future in great fields far 
beyond. Accept the trust as no mean gift of God. 
It is in the larger churches and Sunday-schools 
that the matter of organization becomes of vital 
importance. How can the workers be best combined 
and utilized? Experience has demonstrated that 
it is possible to bring them into such common 
purpose and endeavor as to generate both inspi- 
ration and strength. That is a remarkable trans- 
formation in which the awkward, unpromising 



54 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

squads of recruits become the disciplined and ef- 
fective regiment of the army. 

Greater by far are the possibilities of chris- 
tian organization and training. After consider- 
able observation, I am persuaded that we are yet 
in the beginnings of this work. The latent forces 
in our churches and Sunday-schools are simply 
tremendous. To bring these forth in harmony, 
activity and power is the pastor's work and duty. 

THE SUPERINTENDENT. 

The man next to the pastor in efficiency ought 
to be the Sunday-school superintendent. He is 
not easy to find. The ideal man would combine 
quick, spiritual sympathy with the work; intel- 
lectual capacity to grasp its great importance; ex- 
ecutive ability, with abounding love, tact and en- 
thusiasm. He should be chosen because of his 
present and prospective capacity for service. He 
should be the close friend of the pastor and in 
sympathy with his administration. Take time to 
conduct the school yourself, if necessary, until you 
have found the best man within your possible 
reach. Search for him as for a priceless treasure. 
Once found he will be to you a tower of strength. 
It is desirable that he should be "apt to teach/' 
so that he may conduct your teachers' meeting; 
but I have known some efficient superintendents 
whose gifts were largely along other lines. Many 



ITS ORGANIZATION. 55 

a superintendent has found and won helpers who 
were his superiors in the mere matter of teaching. 
Get the man who has power " to bring things to 
pass." The finding and winning of such a man 
is the first and greatest step in the organization, 
of the school. The same careful attention should, 
be given to the selection of all officers, and espe- 
cially the heads of departments. Success in this 
work guarantees the life and growth of the or- 
ganization. Spirituality, intelligence, enthusiasm^ 
tact, work, under God, will win in any commu- 
nity. I shall carry throughout my life a deep 
sense of obligation to the noble, efficient chris- 
tian men and women who have contributed so 
largely to any success attending our own school 
work. 

THE SELECTION OF TEACHERS. 

The selection of proper teachers for the Sun- 
day school is a matter of the greatest importance. 
Here as elsewhere the spiritual life is thei first 
consideration ; then knowledge of the fundamental 
truths of the Bible, some aptness to teach, and love 
of children. A proper teacher is always the as- 
surance of a prosperous class. The selection can- 
not be too carefully made. The spiritual, intel- 
lectual and social enthusiasm of the school de- 
pends largely on the teacher. Better a few large 
classes well taught than many poorly taught. The 
crying need of our schools to-day is for better 



56 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

teachers. The grade of work must be improved 
if we are to command the intellectual respect of 
the communities in which we do our work. I urge 
you, therefore, to a kindly, persistent endeavor to 
enlist for the service the best men and women 
of the church. It will greatly dignify the entire 
undertaking if such are connected actively with 
the school. It will be a wise investment of your 
time to cultivate the lawyer, the judge, the banker, 
the physician, the business man, until he is brought 
to recognize the dignity and promise of the Sun- 
day school and puts himself heartily into it. Ask 
God to give you these men. Watch your opportu- 
nities. Win them one by one. We must have 
our most efficient people in this work if we are to 
realize our possibilities. 

GRADING. 

The proper separation of the Sunday-school 
classes into grades is a division necessary for the 
best work. In the main, the same general prin- 
ciples that apply to grading in our public schools- 
will apply with equal force to the 'Sunday school. 
Whenever it is possible, separate rooms should be 
provided for each grade, with a large part of their 
own opening and closing exercises. In our own 
school the method of grading is as follows : 

Home Department — Those who cannot attend 
Sunday school. 



ITS ORGANIZATION. 57 

Kindergarten — Children under day-school age. 

Primary — First to third grade in day school. 

Intermediate — Fourth to sixth grade in day 
school. 

Junior — Seventh grade in day school to eight- 
een years of age. 

Adult — Eighteen years of age and upward. 

GRADUATION". 

In the ideal school graduation from a depart- 
ment would be on examination indicating attain- 
ment. Toward this ideal I think we should 
strive, but remembering that there are other con- 
siderations entering in. The class ties are often 
so strong that to separate the membership purely 
on such a basis would be to alienate and lose some. 
Age enters somewhat into- the matter. In the 
lower departments of many schools great difficulty 
has arisen because of attachment to the superin- 
tendent, teacher, and location. This may be ob- 
viated by the introduction and commendation of 
the new superintendent and the cultivation of the 
scholars' acquaintance some time before the date 
of graduation, placing all possible emphasis on 
the unity of the school. The wisdom of trans- 
ferring the teacher with the class must be taken 
into consideration, first, as to ability to teach 
equally well in the higher department, and, sec- 
ond, the hold the teacher has on the class. It 



58 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

must be remembered that some teachers have spe- 
cial fitness for certain grades. There should be 
a cordial recognition and welcome of the gradu- 
ating classes to the departments into which they 
come on the part of the new superintendent. First 
impressions are strong, a,nd the entrance should be 
made bright and cordial. A little careful thought 
and tact will make the transfer pleasant and help- 
ful. 

CLASS ORGANIZATION. 

In the larger and older classes an organization 
often proves helpful. A president, vice president, 
secretary, treasurer, committee on strangers, and 
committee on the sick are desirable. A large class 
of young men, numbering more than two hundred, 
in our own school thus states its objects : " First, 
to advance the interests of the class ; second, to in- 
crease the mutual acquaintance of its members; 
third, to promote among them a higher Chris- 
tian life; fourth, to afford them material assist- 
ance when necessary." This class holds regular 
monthly meetings for the transaction of all busi- 
ness affairs and the cultivation of acquaintance; 
has an annual banquet, an annual concert; and 
disburses several hundred dollars yearly. In a 
word, it is a center of spiritual inspiration and 
power among our young men. Under a skillful 
teacher and leader, much enthusiasm and effi- 



ITS ORGANIZATION. 59 

ciency may be generated. The vigorous work of 
the Young Men's Christian Association illustrates 
to us the possibilities of a more efficient service 
to the young nien, and we must not be blind to our 
responsibilities. No organization ought to care 
for its young men better than the Christian 
church. You can afford to give much time, la- 
bor, and sacrifice to their care. Ask God to give 
you the young men, and then labor as though you 
expect an answer to that prayer. 

officers' council. 

In our own school the by-laws provide for an offi- 
cers' council. " The general officers of the school 
and the associate superintendents shall constitute 
an officers' council and shall meet once a month." 
The wisdom of this council has been repeatedly 
demonstrated in our work. The superintendent 
presides, but the pastor is the senior officer. We 
are often invited to dine at the home of one of 
the officers. Meetings are monthly and occupy 
the entire evening. Formal reports are rendered 
by the secretary, treasurer and associate super- 
intendents of the six departments on the work of 
the past month. Each superintendent gives the 
department membership at the beginning and 
close of the month, reasons for gain or loss, change 
of teachers, nominations of new teachers, any 
changes of work or general administration. At 



60 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

the close of each report the superintendent asks 
for any criticisms on the work of this department 
for the month past. " Can this work be improved 
in any particular? Have any suggestions been 
found in the current literature of the past month 
helpful to this department ? " The discussion is 
frank and full, with a desire to bring the work, in 
the light of the latest and best methods, up to 
date. Thus each department is brought up for 
thorough consideration to the attention of the en- 
tire council every month. The best Sunday- 
school literature of the world is read, and new 
suggestions are bro tight forward for discussion. 
Delicate matters of administration are here con- 
fidentially considered and advice is given. In case 
an officer intends resigning, the fact is here known 
weeks before it is made public, and the entire sit- 
uation is discussed, so that the officers go before 
the school with a united judgment as to the wisest 
course to follow. The council is advisory only in 
these matters, but the officers represent in char- 
acter and ability an influence which naturally 
molds considerably the judgment of the school at 
large. It gives to the pastor an up-to-date knowl- 
edge concerning the entire Sunday-school situa- 
tion once a month, and affords a practical touch 
and influence which renders alienation almost im- 
possible. It affords a fine opportunity to express 
himself through these officers to the school. I 



ITS ORGANIZATION. 6l 

regard this council as the highest step yet reached 
in our Sunday-school organization. In emergen- 
cies it may be a great source of strength and 
safety. 

QUARTERLY MEETINGS. 

There should be a board of management, con- 
sisting of the pastor, officers, teachers, and visitors 
in the Home Department — all members of the 
church — which shall have direction of the entire 
school, meeting quarterly. This is the legislative 
body of the school. Emphasis should be laid on 
these meetings, giving them dignity, enthusiasm, 
and significance. This is especially the place 
where new departures are to be finally discussed 
by the entire working force. Under tactful lead- 
ership the quarterly meeting may be a place of 
light and power. Here the general elections are 
held and the business of the school is transacted. 

DEPARTMENT CONFERENCES. 

An occasional department conference of officers 
and teachers on topics of departmental interest 
is of real value. It offers an opportunity for 
better acquaintance, the discussion of matters sug- 
gested by the department superintendent and the 
teachers, reports from teachers on encouragements 
and discouragements found in their individual 
classes. It gives the opportunity to impress the 



62 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

best methods of teaching in the department aaid 
the setting forth of methods of the more successful 
teachers. The pastor and the general superintend- 
ent will find it profitable to be present. Sometimes 
an informal lunch may be used with advantage. 
In the experience of our own school, this has been 
found both delightful and helpful. 

THE ADULT DEPARTMENT. 

So far as I know, the first Adult Department 
of the Sunday school was organized in Calvary 
Baptist Church, Washington, D. C, in the year 
1889. For some years the membership of the 
Sunday school was composed largely of scholars 
under eighteen years of age, a Bible class of about 
thirty men and women, two small classes of young 
men, and two more classes of young women. The 
absence of the adult members of the church and 
congregation was a serious matter of consider- 
ation. The number of younger classes increased 
until three older classes were taught in the church 
auditorium. The crowded condition of the Sun- 
day-school rooms suggested the permanent occu- 
pancy of the auditorium, but the classes seemed 
lost in the large room and lacked the enthusiasm 
of numbers and organization. This led to the en- 
deavor to increase the number of adult classes 
and several of our excellent people united in a 
canvass for new scholars. The result was a grati- 



ITS ORGANIZATION. 63 

fying success. Then came the organization, with 
superintendent, assistant superintendent, secre- 
tary, chorister, etc. The movement commended 
itself and the increased number of classes and 
membership awakened enthusiasm. The novel 
sight of a large number of men and women study- 
ing the word of God together, the presence of the 
fathers and mothers of the children in the rooms 
below, contributed to the dignity and enthusiasm 
of the entire work of the school. 'S'o rapid and 
steady was the growth that in 1893 it became nec- 
essary to build a large and commodious Sunday- 
school house adjoining the church, and the Adult 
Department was given the large upper room, with 
its twenty-eight separate class rooms and floor 
space for twenty additional classes. The fervor 
awakened by the erection of the new building was 
made an occasion for further endeavor to increase 
the membership, until now we have in the Adult 
Department — officers, teachers, and scholars — 
more than one thousand members. The opening 
and closing exercises are dignified and impressive. 
Occasionally special music or a brief talk from 
some distinguished worker varies the programme. 
Mr. Wanamaker, when Postmaster General, once 
said to me : "I like the enterprise of this school. 
The surprising thing is that so many people can- 
not understand that it is easier to do a big thing 
than a little thing." To us this new departure 



64 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

has been a source of satisfaction, and helpfulness 
from the very beginning. It has contributed 
many teachers to the school in its various depart- 
ments and has in training many -substitute teach- 
ers at present. I commend the Adult Department 
to your careful thought. It has great possibilities 
in it. While unquestionably the more vital work 
of the school is done in the lower departments, we 
ought not to ignore what may be done for the men 
and women in our congregation. 

HOME DEPARTMENT. 

Another modern and important advance in 
Sunday-school organization is found in the Home 
Department. In every congregation there are 
some who from age, illness, or homo conditions 
are shut in. To seek them out; to assure them 
of loving remembrance and desire to have them 
counted in our work; to be, with us, students of 
the Word of Life; and to share in our endeavor 
to save the world, is practical, Christlike work. 
A world of cheer and helpfulness is here possible. 
When the idea of the Home Department was- men- 
tioned to Bishop Vincent by Dr. W. A. Duncan, 
in 1881, the Bishop said : " There has been no 
thought or plan so important and far reaching 
in its possibilities since the first Sunday school 
was "organized." This department may be made 
especially valuable in assisting the pastor to shep- 



ITS ORGANIZATION. 65 

herd those of his flock in out-of-the-way places. 
The practical difficulty is in finding a superin- 
tendent and visitors who have a high conception 
of the tender significance and duty of thus shep- 
herding these dear members of the Father's fam- 
ily. It is a beautiful, inspiring, far-reaching 
work, and well cared for, adds much to the moral 
and spiritual force of the school. Occasional con- 
ferences of the officers and visitors, sometimes 
with the pastor, will be helpful; and the recogni- 
tion of the work at proper times from the pulpit 
is desirable. In all general gatherings of the 
school, endeavor should be made to bring in all 
members who can reasonably attend. Properly 
developed, this department will be continually 
transferring some from its own membership to 
the more active departments of the school. 

SUPERINTENDENT OE SUBSTITUTES. 

In the larger schools there may profitably be a 
superintendent of substitute teachers — one who, 
recognizing the necessity of the best possible work, 
will represent the school in a continued search 
in the school and the community for those espe- 
cially qualified to teach. The opportunity for a 
very important service to the school in such an 
officer is obvious. 



66 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

DEPARTMENT OF VISITORS. 

In the larger schools there should be a super- 
intendent of strangers, with the necessary num- 
ber of assistants, whose duty it shall be to greet 
and welcome visitors, conducting to the superin- 
tendents of departments those desiring to unite 
with the school, guiding visitors through the 
school, and imparting such information as may be 
desired concerning it. This work, in wise hands, is 
very valuable. A small folder — with the names of 
officers, departments, basis of grading, outlines of 
study, financial report, teachers, membership of 
departments, names of the pastor, clerk, and 
treasurer of the church, with its membership; 
names and locations of mission schools and offi- 
cers — will be of special use to the strangers and 
prove an answer to many questions. 

THE CRADLE ROLL. 

The cradle roll of membership in the Sunday 
school has much to commend it. The coming of 
a new child to the family is recognized by a 
friendly visitor. The name, date of birth and 
residence are recorded; the parents are congratu- 
lated; and the child is preempted for the Kin- 
dergarten Department later on. It is natural that 
the parents should be pleased with such attention 
and come to regard the child as somewhat under 



ITS ORGANIZATION. 67 

the care of the school and a candidate for future 
membership. Frequently it proves the entering 
wedge in winning the parents to the school and 
the church. It is much more important than 
would be supposed by the thoughtless. It is a 
natural line of Kindergarten Department work. 

TEAS AND BANQUETS. 

In the early fall, after the end of vacation sea- 
son, an autumnal tea for the purpose of rallying 
the entire working force of the school — officers, 
teachers, and substitute teachers — is excellent. 
After a social hour, an informal tea is served. 
Then follow some bright talks on vacation remi- 
niscences, interspersed with music, closing with the 
addresses of the superintendent and the pastor on 
the importance of the fall work and any special new 
departures. By way of illustration, I may be par- 
doned in giving you the programme of our last 
annual tea. (See Appendix A.) 

In the spring there may be a more dignified 
banquet of the school composed of the same work- 
ers. A few more formal addresses may be made 
by some of the brightest workers; and it itifty add 
to the interest if some distinguished Sunday- 
school worker from outside is invited, with closing 
words from the superintendent and the pastor. The 
aim should be to make the banquet the event of 
the year in the intellectual, social and spiritual 



68 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

life of the school. Such gatherings have proven 
very helpful, commanding generous notice from 
the press and comment in the community. They 
aid in emphasizing the unity of the school, culti- 
vate acquaintance, afford excellent opportunity to 
familiarize the entire body of workers with exist- 
ing conditions, and offer an opportunity to* intro- 
duce and commend any new departures in the 
work. I. will add the programme of the last 
spring banquet in our own school by way of illus- 
tration, which occurred on its fortieth anniver- 
sary. (See Appendix B.) 

children's day and rally day. 

A proper observance of these days by the united 
departments of the school is very desirable. It 
breaks in a little on the monotony of the general 
work, gives the individual scholar an idea of the 
membership of the school, and offers an opportu- 
nity for the participation of the little folks, which 
is always pleasing. The children always win. 
On Eally Day the number of each class should be 
called; and the response in figures may be, first, 
the entire class membership, and second, the 
number present. It puts the teacher and the class 
on their mettle and helps to hold them up to their 
work. Proper preparation for such occasions 
summons the entire constituency of the school, 
awakens enthusiasm, and illustrates in concrete 



ITS ORGANIZATION. 69 

form the forces already gathered in the Sunday 
school. The following programme represents the 
last ChildrenVday service and Eally Day of our 
own school held in the auditorium of the church. 
(See Appendixes C and D.) 

PROGRAMME COMMITTEE. 

After years of observation, I am persuaded that 
a permanent programme committee, who arrange 
all general school exercises through the year — 
Eally Day, Christmas, Children's Day, teas, and 
banquets — under direction of the superintendent, 
thus avoiding unnecessary repetitions and secur- 
ing a progressive unity in the exercises of the year, 
is desirable. It is a rare gift needed for such 
work. Knowledge of the personnel of the school, 
broad vision of the work undertaken, and the 
power of initiative are essential to the best success. 

THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL LIBRARY. 

There is some difference of opinion as to the 
practical value of a Sunday-school library in these 
days. I think it generally desirable, though the 
large increase of literature in the home and the 
multiplication of public libraries render the de- 
mand less than in other days. There should al- 
ways be a well-selected reference library, with the 
best books of special denominational value, for 
the use of workers and inquirers. In every well- 



70 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

organized church and Sunday-school there should 
be an efficient: agency for the circulation of our 
denominational papers and Sunday-school liter- 
ature. This may be properly done under the di- 
rection of the librarian. The absence of denom- 
inational literature in many of our homes is a 
matter for serious consideration. If we expect 
quick sympathy fro-m our people in world-wide 
mission work, christian education, and the nat- 
ural activities of applied Christianity, they must 
have fresh, up-to-date information — knowledge of 
the widening triumphs of Christ's kingdom in all 
lands. If every Sunday-school librarian were se- 
lected with the special purpose of making his work 
a center for the dissemination of religious liter- 
ature in the church, the school and the congrega- 
tion, it would be well; indeed, I am convinced 
that such an endeavor is one of the necessities 
of the present. 

CULTURE OF THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT. 

No Sunday-school can be true to itself that ig- 
nores its obligation to the world. From the very 
beginning there should be careful instruction in 
matters pertaining to the command, the duty, the 
privilege of carrying the gospel to " every crea- 
ture/' In the individual classes and in the public 
exercises of the school the plain command of our 
Lord should find loving and frequent emphasis. 



ITS ORGANIZATION. 7l 

In its benevolences the school should be efficient 
in its training of the membership. Therefore, 
there should be reasonable, regular, generous con- 
tributions of funds solicited for missions at home 
and abroad ; indeed the school should be a " train- 
ing school for missions " in the broadest and holi- 
est sense of the term. The officers and teachers 
of the school should make it their constant duty 
to gather the freshest and brightest illustrations 
of missionary endeavor and success in all the world 
in order that they may be utilized for the impor- 
tation of divine truth. All possible endeavor 
should be made to preempt the heart and mind of 
the child for the world-wide work in the Master's 
kingdom. God give us the children! 

MATERIAL EQUIPMENT. 

The average church edifice, with its lecture 
room, primary room and one or two Bible-class 
roomys, will furnish space for most schools. An 
organ — or better, a piano — a blackboard, and a 
large map will do to begin with. Plenty of good 
light and ample ventilation are necessary. Chairs 
are the more desirable seats, as they may be les- 
sened, multiplied, or rearranged as occasion de- 
mands, or taken entirely from the room if used 
for social purposes. But with the proper spirit, 
organization, and work, it is to be hoped the school 
will demand larger and better accommodations. 



72 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

There are always obstacles in the way of new and 
large expenditures of money. It will be useless 
ordinarily to attempt much until the demand is 
actually apparent. Work the old plant to its ut- 
most; make expansion an absolute necessity by 
reason of success. There is always an enthusiasm 
in new and necessary departures and the financial 
sacrifice which renders them possible. There is a 
contagion in healthy enterprise and an admira- 
tion for that kind of courage and faith that meas- 
ures itself in dollars and cents. The modern 
Sunday-school house — with its capacious class 
rooms; offices for the pastor, superintendent, sec- 
retary, and treasurer; lavatories, etc. — is rapidly 
becoming a necessity in our larger schools. The 
details of its size and arrangement must be stud- 
ied in the light of the local need and means at 
hand. Unquestionably the work of the Sunday- 
school demands the best possible equipment; and 
you will be surprised to find how much may be 
accomplished when the matter is pushed with 
good judgment and enthusiasm. A large and 
generous care of the school in the way of material 
equipment will command the attention of the com- 
munity and go far toward dignifying it in the 
eyes of all. 

I have spoken thus freely and somewhat inform- 
ally of the arganization of Sunday-school work, 
with occasional references to our own school, by 



ITS ORGANIZATION. 73 

your request. I beg to remind you, in closing, 
that organization and equipment are but means 
to an end. Spiritual life and growth must keep 
pace with all material advance, or it will profit 
but little. Behind the equipment must be a heart 
beating in sympathy with its divine Lord in a 
never-ending passion for souls. 



74 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 



LECTURE IV. 

ITS METHOD. 

The true Sunday school exists for instruction 
and worship. It ministers, therefore, to both 
head and heart. It seeks the moral as well as the 
intellectual and aims at character as well as knowl- 
edge. Its legitimate aim is the conversion of the 
pupil and the development of his christian char- 
acter. As it is not only the light, but the warmth 
of the sun which stimulates vegetation, so knowl- 
edge must be mingled with love, or it loses the 
girdings of its power. Heart power is the first 
and highest qualit}^ for instruction in spiritual 
truth. Under its inspiration the intellect finds 
its true .sphere and possibilities. A deep spiritu- 
ality alone can furnish the true motive power for 
Sunday-school instruction. We must not forget, 
however, that the deepest religious fervor should 
be accompanied by the largest possible intelli- 
gence and intellectual activity. The Sunday- 
school teacher should have clear conceptions of 
the fundamental truths of the Scriptures, their 
application to human experience, and be able to 
state them in the simple, clean language of to-day. 
That we have fallen far below the ideal in this 



ITS METHOD. 75 

work must be sadly admitted, but we are here to- 
day as the disciples of the truth to face the con- 
ditions and under God to master them. 

By far the most serious difficulty in the way 
of instructing and saving children through the 
Sunday-school lies in the neglect of home reli- 
gious life and teaching. A careful glance at the 
conditions about us will reveal the fact that this 
highest duty of the home is, and has been sadly 
neglected for years in many homes. The first 
institution God planted in the world was the home. 
It lies back of both church and Sunday-school. 
As it was first in God's thought; so it has been 
first in those influences which shape the thoughts 
and characters of men. Its sympathetic relation 
to the child, the obligation it imposes by its love 
and care, the many-sided interests which are and 
ever must be common, give to the parent such 
entrance to heart and mind as come to no other. 
Under such conditions the plastic mind of the 
child readily takes on impressions which far out- 
last those of later years. Hence the home is 
necessarily the greatest of all educational insti- 
tutions. Here the preacher and the teacher, I 
care not how great they axe, must as a rule, be 
second in power to the parent. Here is the first 
and greatest opportunity for getting divine truth 
into the mind and heart of the child. You recall 
the ringing words of Moses to his people after they 



76 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

had received the commandments : "And these 
words, which I command thee this day, shall be 
upon thine heart : and thou shalt teach them dili- 
gently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them 
when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou 
walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, 
and when thou risest up. . . . And thou shalt 
write them upon the doorposts of thy house, and 
upon thy gates." That message is spiritually for 
you and through you, for the men and women 
of to-day. If we are to preempt the future for the 
church of Christ, securing both constituency and 
helpers, we must address ourselves to the home 
as the first of all educational institutes. Nothing 
can be more vital than that kind of home religion 
which prepares the way for every other good 
work. Earnestly, lovingly, hopefully minister to 
the homes. Day by day ask God to give you the 
fathers and mothers. While the Bunday-school 
can never take the place of the home, the home 
may become a vast spiritual watershed from which 
streams flow to enrich and gladden the white fields 
of your toil. With all the winning power of your 
life, I beg you to go forth to the homes of your 
people and help them to rebuild the family altar, 
kindle its fires, and in its light open and teach 
the truths of God's word. Take the home into 
your closet and pulpit prayers, and in your mes- 
sages tenderly ask why parents teach their chil- 



ITS METHOD. 



77 



dren the duty of intellectual and social culture and 
the laws of business, and leave them unschooled 
in the higher realm of the soul. Such endeavor 
year after year will be rich in its returns. It will 
aid you in countless ways in the organization of 
your work, sending scholars, revealing teachers, 
creating enthusiasm. The family altar must be 
restored, the parent must become the teacher of 
divine truth, and an atmosphere must be gener- 
ated in the home in which the new life can grow 
and be glad. Our Sunday-school endeavor, there- 
fore, should begin in the homes of our people, or 
we miss the first conditions of success. Get the 
mother, and God will give you the children. 
" While waiting at a railroad station, a young 
man put down his grip near me and stood talk- 
ing to a middle-aged woman. I soon learned that 
it was his mother and that he was going away 
from home to begin his business life. As the time 
for the departure of the train drew nearer, her 
nervousness increased, and she scarcely moved her 
eyes from her boy's face. As they parted at the 
gate beyond which she was not permitted to pass, 
I heard her say : ' Don't forget the Book ; it's in 
your trunk; and remember home every night at 
nine o'clock. We'll remember you.' Then, w?t> 
the farewell kis<s, came the words : c God bless nfy 
dear boy ! '" He was parting from the greatest 
teacher of the world. 



78 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

A very practical difficulty in the work of in- 
struction lies in the fact that we are often com- 
pelled to use teachers but partially trained for 
their work. Then the children, coming from 
five days' touch in public Oir private schools with 
their keenly-trained teachers, have felt a painful 
contrast in the intellectual atmosphere and grip 
of the Sunday-school. It has been a contrast in 
which the average Sunday-school teachers have suf- 
fered and the school has lost prestige. What is 
the remedy ? First, we must make it our business 
to find and win the very best teaching talent in 
the communitj r . It must be the constant, loving 
work of the pastor and the officers. The vital im- 
portance of this cannot well be overestimated. The 
Sunday-school of to-day has pressing need of the 
most intelligent, devout and intellectual people 
you know. An inferior teaching force makes 
large success impossible. Make it a daily prayer 
that God will help you to win for his service men 
and women capable of comprehending the neces- 
sity, dignity and blessedness of Sunday-school 
work. 

You will have to do^ moreover, with some teach- 
ers whose attainments are not large, but who are 
eager to improve the quality of their work. To 
the development of these loyal teachers, you axe 
to address yourself with intelligent enthusiasm. 
With affectionate care on the part of the pastor 



ITS METHOD. 79 

and the superintendent,, many an average teacher 
may become almost ideal. We must endeavor to 
create an " atmosphere " so laden with kindliness, 
intelligence, and spiritual vigor that our young 
and inexperienced teachers will find it easy and 
natural to grow, always conscious of a loving 
touch, both human and divine. Sonie teachers 
may fail simply from lack of sympathy and reason- 
able care. 

There is also a very serious difficulty arising 
from the fact that the Sunday-school teacher has 
his class but thirty or forty minutes once a week. 
It will never be possible to furnish an adequate 
religious education by lessons of this length and 
frequency. No plan, however perfect, however 
graded, however pedagogical, can do it. This 
work must be supplemented by the churchly func- 
tion of teaching, the parents' work in the home, 
the dissemination of helpful literature, and those 
social recognitions which evince the sincere and 
abiding love of the teacher. I believe in personal 
and frequent visitation, the quick recognition of 
sickness or sorrow in the home, the tactful and 
generous remembrance of poverty and helplessness. 
Such Christlike work prepares the way remark- 
ably for the inculcation of the truth. Occasional 
class gatherings under direction of the teacher 
will help toward better acquaintance and fellow- 



80 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

ship, and class organization will add to the en- 
thusiasm of the work. 

The initial work of instruction depends largely 
on the pastor. His own intelligence and intel- 
lectual vigor, as it finds expression both, in and out 
of the pulpit, ought to create that kind of atmos- 
phere helpful to instruction. President Garfield 
once said that all that was necessary to make a 
college was Mark Hopkins on one end of a log 
and a country boy at the other end. He meant 
to illustrate the remarkable educational instincts 
of the great college president, the man who could 
discern the possibilities in an awkward country 
boy and then rise in the majesty of his own ac- 
quirements to the task of developing the cultured 
man. The christian minister, in his intellectual 
attainments and aptness, should be a continual 
incentive to mental activity along spiritual lines. 
Let him cultivate in himself that kind of intel- 
lectual as well as spiritual leadership- which 
spreads like a contagion among those with whom 
he has to do. I have been surprised and deeply 
pained to know how little time and thought is 
given by many pastors, to this very important de- 
partment of church work. If we are to attain the 
largest possible results, the pastor must fling him- 
self into the midst of his teachers with a kind of 
glad abandon as he leads them forth along the lines 
of higher intellectual activity for the sake of train- 



ITS METHOD. 81 

ing spiritual workers who will not suffer in com- 
parison with the world's workers in other depart- 
ments of life. No amount of religious feeling 
on the part of the pastor can atone for willing 
ignorance or intellectual indolence. The pastor 
must always lead in the churchly function of 
teaching the truth. 

It should be insisted, of course, that the very 
best up-to-date 'Sunday-school literature is in the 
hands of the teachers and carefully read. Our 
own denomination is furnishing admirable mate- 
rial of this kind, and every pastor ought to in- 
sure its wide circulation. Our foremost denomi- 
national papers are invaluable helpers and are rec- 
ognizing more and more this important part of 
church work, and they ought to be in every home. 
The exposition of the lesison, the reports of con- 
ventions, the fresh record of the world's work in 
the Sunday school will afford much in the way of 
instruction, illustration and inspiration. All 
these will aid in the organization and administra- 
tion of the teachers' meeting, which ought to be 
the educational and devotional center of the Sun- 
day school. 

teachers' meeting. 

It must be admitted frankly that there are some 
obstacles to be overcome in the organization and 



82 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

conduct of a teachers' meeting. The best-quali- 
fied teachers may have little personal need of 
such an organization, but the moral effect of their 
presence is large and their helpfulness is inval- 
uable. They must be made to feel that they owe 
their attendance and cooperation to the school 
and must be won for the work. Some teachers 
are so employed as to render it well-nigh impos- 
sible to be present. Such should be induced to 
lend the meeting their moral support and give 
at least an occasional attendance. Those most 
needing help may be the last to appreciate it. 
Patience, tact and labor will be necessary to at- 
tract and hold them; but it can and should be 
done. It is not too much to expect that most 
teachers should be in attendance on the weekly 
teachers' meeting. To insure this must be a con- 
stant study. An entire evening for this wo>rk is 
very desirable if you can command the time and 
attendance. In many excellent schools, however, 
this has been found practically impossible, and 
the hour preceding the mid-week prayer meeting is 
used with good results. This hour secures the 
attendance of some who find it impossible to give 
two evenings weekly and who wish to be in the 
prayer meeting. It may be said in favoir of such 
an hour that the teachers' meeting will probably 
attract many who are not teachers, who become 



ITS METHOD. 83 

interested in the presentation of the lesson; and 
the increased number adds largely to the enthu- 
siasm and the scope of service rendered. Dr. 
Schauffler has well said that " the teachers' meet- 
ing should not be a debating society, a lecture, 
or a social club, but a meeting for the study of the 
lesson as its main object. Its leader must be 
strong and tactful in holding it to its distinct 
work. In this matter of the study of the lesson 
there must be cooperation between the leader and 
the led. There must be mutual exchange of 
thought ana propounding of questions and 
thoughts. We meet to study the lesson — not from 
the standpoint of the theological leader, but 
from the standpoint of the average lay teacher 
who has to break it into small crumbs for the 
lay scholar. Our supreme effort must be so to 
study the lesson that it shall open itself up in a 
manner easy for a teacher to handle. We teach 
the teacher what to teach and how to teach." 

We should not forget in our endeavor that " the 
prime factor in education is personality. One 
has wisely said that institutions are but the shad- 
ows of great men. There is no incentive in ab- 
straction ; everywhere we are wrought upon by per- 
sonal influences." One of our poets has sung : 

" 'All houses wherein men have lived and died 
are haunted houses. 



84 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

" The stranger at my fireside cannot see 

The forms I see nor hear the sounds I hear ; 
He but perceives what is, while unto me 
All that has been is visible and clear. 

" We have no title deed to house or lands ; 
Owners and occupants of earlier dates 
From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands 
And hold in mortmain still their old estates." 

Here is a practical hint of an existing Bible 
Club which is doing excellent work, given by its 
leader, Mr. P. H. Bristow: 

"Membership — 

Every officer and teacher in the Sunday 
school and adult members of the church 
who may sometimes teach or are otherwise 
interested. 

"Organization — 

A leader (preferably the superintendent). 
A secretary. 

Membership (this may include some outside 
the school and church). 

"Objects— 

Systematic study of the Sunday-school les- 
sons (not a normal class). 

Preparation of teachers to teach the lesson. 

Development of 'teaching' material. 

General Bible instruction as it comes up in 
connection with each lesson, and no lesson 
should be absolutely limited to the verses 
selected. 



ITS METHOD. 85 

"The Lesson — 
Tell of Persons, Places, Geography, Chronol- 
ogy- 
Give the relation of the lesson to other scrip- 
tures. 

"Programme — 

Prayer. 

Eeading the lesson. 

Some reference to the preceding lesson. 

Special papers. 

Teaching the lesson. 

Gems of thought suggested. 

A sentence prayer. 

'Special Papers (varied, of course, by the char- 
acter of each lesson) — 

1. 'Intervening Events/ 

2. ' Persons, Places, and Time/ 

3. ' The Lesson Story/ 

4. ' On some practical theme suggested/ 
Other papers suggest themselves with differ- 
ent lessons — as, for instance, in the lesson 
for October 11a good subject is ' Things 
We Plan which Others Build/ 

Earely have more than two papers. 
Assign the papers one week in advance, and 
make sure that there will be no failure. 

'Methods of Teaching — 

As a general proposition; lecture; question; 
encourage questionings; endeavor to cre- 
ate interest. 

Guard against discussions of subjects on 
which the best people differ. 



36 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

Hold the club close to the lesson. 

Endeavor to complete each lesson. 

Have a commencement and an ending which 
are clear and to the point. 

A lesson closed in the midst of the theme is 
not even half taught. 

The leader ought to control (without seem- 
ing to) rip to the last word spoken. 

An indifferent leader, if he puts on a 6 cap- 
sheaf ' and does it well, is preferable to a 
brilliant leader who leaves his lesson plan 
unfinished. 

Make points. 

"Time of Meeting — 

One hour just previous to the week-day 
prayer meeting, and always the same hour." 

A stenographic report of such a meeting of Cal- 
vary Teachers' Club will be found at the closing 
of this volume as Appendix E. 

OUTLINES OE STUDY. 

In every well-graded Sunday-school the course 
of study should be carefully arranged, so as to 
define clearly the intellectual advance of the 
scholar from the Kindergarten Department to the 
Adult Department. The lack of a simple, com- 
prehensive plan of development covering the en- 
tire school has been one of the marked defects of 
the work in very many schools. Grading is the 
systematic arrangement of the school into classes 



ITS METHOD. 87 

and departments for progressive study of the Bi- 
ble and for christian nurture, the members of the 
classes and departments being classified as may 
be advisable with reference to age and advance- 
ment and following, as nearly as possible, the 
grades laid down by the graded day-schools, the 
lessons and methods of teaching being adapted 
to the pupils of the several departments. The 
school should arrange for Bible classes and sup- 
plemental lessons. It is not in the least necessary 
to supplant, but to supplement, the international 
lessons. At the recent Chicago conference in the 
interests of religious education the belief was ex- 
pressed that the international system is the best 
system at present for a large percentage of schools. 
It seems to me probable — indeed it is to be hoped 
— that the system may be somewhat modified in 
the near future so as to admit of a supplemental 
series of lessons in order that our schools may do 
more systematic work. 

CURRICULUM OF BIBLE STUDY. 

The following sets forth the plan adopted and 
followed for the study of the Bible by the Sun- 
day school of Calvary Baptist Church, of Wash- 
ington, D. C, in its several departments, which 
I have been asked to present by your honored 
president. The course is arranged for depart- 
ments, and not for separate years, The Cradle 



88 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

Roll and the Home Department are included, as 
showing what is done in order to get an early 
hold upon the child, as well as upon the parents, 
and also to carry the work into the homes to those 
who for any reason may not be able to attend the 
sessions of the school. 
"Cradle Roll— 

The child's name is at once enrolled on the 

records of the school. 
A certificate of enrollment is given to the par- 
ents of the child. 
The child is remembered regularly in prayer, 

and the parents are so informed. 
Birthday cards are sent on each anniversary ; 
flowers, on some occasions. 

"Kindergarten — 

Golden Text and Lesson Story of the Inter- 
national Lesson Series. 

The Lord's Prayer. 

God's love verse, John 3 : 16. 

Psalm 23. 

Christ's invitation to the children. 

Golden Eule. 

Reciting Bible verses taught at home. 

Motion verses and songs. 

Missionary thought introduced with the birth- 
day offerings. 

Singing interspersed, and special attention 
given to it. 

"Primary Department — 

Golden Text and Lesson Story of the Inter- 
national Lesson Series. 



ITS METHOD. 89 

Review: The Lord's Prayer; Ps. 23. 

New Work: Ps, 1; Ps. 100; Ps. 19. 

Bible verses., with the name of the book and 
the number of chapter and verse. 

Missionary verses. 

Motion verses. 

Birthday offerings, accompanied with song. 

Children of the Bible. 

General questions on the Bible. 

Books of the New Testament. 

Geography Work : The children to become fa- 
miliar with the map of Palestine and the 
events for which many places* are remem- 
bered (taught with symbols) ; two church 
hymns each year; in addition to this, the 
children to be trained in the reading of the 
Bible; supplemental work to be done, teach- 
ing especially the great importance of 
cheerful giving, missions, temperance, etc. 

Singing interspersed, and special attention 
given to it. 

'Intermediate Department — 

Golden Text and Lesson Story of the Inter- 
national Lesson Series. 

Bible geography (more advanced work). 

Outlines of Bible history. 

The Bible : Books — order, number, classifica- 
tion ; contents ; intelligent u»e. 

The way of salvation, based upon ' Pilgrim's 
Progress' (largely scripture). 

Missions : Our mission boards and their work 
(one lesson a month). 

The church and its ordinances (scripture au- 
thority). 



90 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

One or two Psalms. 

Luke 2 : 3-20. 

Memorizing scripture grouped about the fol- 
lowing subjects (from five to twelve verses 
on each.) : The Bible, prayer and prom- 
ises; God's care and help and guidance; 
giving; missions; temperance; praise and 
thanksgiving; resurrection; heaven. 

Singing interspersed, and special attention 
given to it. 

"Junior Department — 

Eeview of work in lower departments, par- 
ticularly memorizing of selected Psalms 
and the names of the books of the Bible. 

Thorough study of the International Sunday- 
school Lessons and memorizing Golden 
Texts, with special emphasis on personal 
application. 

In connection with, but supplemental to, the 
International Sunday-school Lessons, the 
following subjects are taught: 

1. Principal events in the lives of prom- 

inent Old Testament characters 
(including prophets, priests, and 
kings) woven into a history of 
God's chosen people; God's cove!- 
nants with his people emphasized; 
Jewish rites and ceremonies typical 
of Christ and prophecies relating 
to Christ. 

2. The life and mission of Jesus Christ. 

3. The life and travels of Paul. 

4. Development of the apostolic church. 



ITS METHOD. 91 

5. Doctrines and ordinances of the 

church. 

6. Lessons in church missions. 

7. Outlines of church history. 

"Adult Department — 

The organization and plan of the Adult 
Department practically forbid the intro- 
duction into the general programme of exer- 
cises, of any supplemental work. The classes 
are composed of young men and young 
women not less than eighteen years of age, 
and from that to men and women eighty 
years of age. The opening exercises con- 
sist of singing, the reciting of Bible verses 
by individuals, prayer, the Golden Text 
(the International Sunday-school Lessons 
are used), reading the lesson in concert, a 
selected Psalm in concert, and the ' Gloria.' 
Forty-five minutes are given for the study 
of the lesson; and the teachers are relied 
upon to supplement the work with all infor- 
mation possible to obtain and use, in the 
limits of the time given, which will aid in 
throwing light upon the whole subject un- 
der study. Many of the classes assign the 
preparation of special papers on the lesson 
to members of the class one week in ad- 
vance ; and in this way the teacher is great- 
ly reenforced through the presentation of 
material facts — such as. persons, places, 
time, geography, etc. — leaving the teacher 
to bring to his class the spiritual teachings 
of the lesson and to make their application. 
Nearly all, if not all the classes in the de- 



92 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

partment make practical application of 
what they are getting from a study of the 
Bible. The class work is supplemented in 
many instances by an organization within 
the class, sometimes called the ' Class 
Club/ with regular officers; others do the 
supplemental work through carefully-se- 
lected committees. By both these methods 
the missionary spirit is encouraged by 
practical work; temperance is taught along 
defined lines; cheerful giving is encour- 
aged; the church is helped in its mission 
work ; sick members of the class are remem- 
bered; absent members are looked after; 
class spirit is built up; all classes working 
in harmony, the department and the school 
are greatly strengthened. Fifteen minutes 
are given to the closing exercises, which 
consist of singing, making the usual an- 
nouncements, and a five-minute review of 
the lesson from the platform. A song or 
the Lord^s Prayer closes the session. 

"Home Department — 

The Object: The Home Department has for 
its object the systematic reading and study 
of the Bible in the homes and the keeping 
of the shut-in members assured of loving 
remembrance and care. 

For Whom : It is established for the benefit 
of those who cannot attend the Bible classes 
at the church, or who can be present only 
occasionally. 

Plan : A card of membership is given to those 
who are willing to join. Monthly calls are 



ITS METHOD. 93 

made by department visitors. A copy of 
the denominational Quarterly, containing 
a list of ' Daily Home Headings/ ' The In- 
ternational Sunday-school Lessons-/ with 
critical notes 1 and applications of the les^ 
sons, will be furnished each member. 
Each member will devote one-half hour or 
more each week to the reading and study 
of the references selected." 

I regard this improvement of our instruction 
as the most vital point in all our present discus- 
sion. The Sunday school must he made to com- 
mand respect for its educational work. Old, slip- 
shod methods must go; intelligent, systematic, 
progressive plans of work must be adopted, or we 
shall prove ourselves miserably unworthy of our 
great opportunities. If you become a pastor whose 
intellectual as well as spiritual life is contagious, 
sowing your field with the best Sunday-school lit- 
erature, organizing and maintaining a live and 
helpful teachers' meeting, arranging a systematic 
and progressive course of Bible study from the 
Kindergarten Department to the Adult Depart^ 
ment, so that each department clearly understands 
the ground it is expected to cover, and covers it, 
then you may expect, under Grod, to preempt the 
future of your community for Christ and his 
church. 



$4 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 



LECTURE V. 

ITS INSPIRATIONS. 

It is not the rule that life, love and service are 
flung oarelessly away. Each has its price — the 
consideration for which it is given. It may not be 
displayed to the gaze of the curious crowd, but 
it is there ; and as that consideration is worthy or 
"unworthy, the life rises or falls in the balance. 
It is fair, therefore, to ask: What are some of 
the high considerations which inspire to the sac- 
rifice and labor of Sunday-school work? There 
are impressions lingering in the public mind still 
that this work appeals to women and girls and 
"goody-goody" young men who are touched by 
mere sentiment, but that it is not sufficient for 
broad-shouldered, broad-minded, manly men. For 
them the arena of business and professional life, 
the struggle for mastery and gain, offer larger 
incentives than those found here. Thus easy is 
it in the very opening years of the twentieth cen- 
tury for men to mistake the unreal for the real 
and the passing for that which abides. I come 
in this final lecture to name a few of those mighty 
inspirations lighting us on into the fresh, white 
fields of this department of christian work. 



ITS INSPIRATIONS. 



95 



First, let me speak to you of the inspiration of 
relationship. So long as the human heart and 
mind remain what they are, so long relationship 
will be a matter of supreme importance and inter- 
est. Not long since a man who had amassed 
wealth in the West came East in search of some 
clew of his mother, of whom he had never known. 
He had been a waif; had gone almost nameless 
into the fight of life, and won; but all through 
the years there had been a conscious, increasing 
longing for some touch with his mother. It was 
the irrepressible cry of the human heart for rela- 
tionship. So it is in the higher life of all. Amid 
the cares and troubles of the way there is a heart 
yearning for the great Father, and nothing else 
satisfies. All sacrifice and worship look toward 
restoration to him and peace with him. The 
christian service that has been considered in this 
course of lectures stands for such relationship re- 
stored. The natural situation was voiced with 
marked simplicity recently in these words : " First, 
an uneasiness; second, a cry for solution. The 
uneasiness, reduced to its simplest terms, is the 
sense that there is something wrong about us as 
we naturally stand; the solution is a sense that 
we are saved from the wrongness by making proper 
connection with the higher power." It is out pf 
6uch a return and experience that the spirit .% 
christian service is born. Service is the sign of 



96 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

relationship. Your disposition and effort, there- 
fore, in spiritual work are the assurance of recon- 
ciliation with, and restoration to, God. " His 
servants are ye whom ye serve." Is it a small in- 
spiration to thus come personally into loving, obe- 
dient touch with the Creator and into partner- 
ship with Jesus, the matchless character of the 
ages ? Is it not a satisfaction beyond all expres- 
sion that above and about us is God our Father; 
that in his presence and for his sake the work of 
life is done? Is it not the beginning of both 
rest and power? Believe me, it is in such an ex- 
perience that the heart finds comfort, the per- 
plexed mind finds rest, and life itself finds its 
meaning and mission. Has the world any inspi- 
ration comparable with this for which christian 
service stands? Day by day I am in his mind, 
I am in his care, I am in his love; and the very 
work I do witnesses to the fact. The mightiest 
and most permanent inspirations of human life 
spring from personal touch with God. "Lord, 
thou hast been our dwelling place in all genera- 
tions." First and foremost, then, the desire and 
endeavor to win, instruct and save the children 
for the service of God and man will be in itself 
to you a daily witness of relationship with God; 
and in that relationship the heart will find rest 
and comfort; the mind, uplift and vision; the 
whole life, meaning and aim. 



ITS INSPIRATIONS. 97 

Second, the inspiration of authority. Many- 
sided are the attractions in Jesus Christ — fore- 
most, always, the blended love and sacrifice of 
the cross. The story of Calvary touches the hearts 
of men everywhere. The greatest of our needs 
are met in him, and the sweetest of human expe- 
rience is the profound conviction of personal re- 
demption in Jesus. But there is another element 
of attraction in the Nazarene — often overlooked, 
but not to be underestimated — and that is author- 
ity. You will bear me witness that there is a strange 
inconsistency in human nature. We seem to 
carry with us a dislike of authority, as though it 
were to be dreaded and shunned. The parent 
finds it a perplexity in the administration of the 
home, while the State guards its laws with inspec- 
tion and penalties. It is not in the fact that the 
demand is wrong, but that by nature we rebel at 
restraint; and yet the child loses respect and love 
largely for the parent who ceases to rule, and the 
citizen sneers at the State Whose laws he may dis- 
regard with impunity. The strange fact is that 
the rebellious soul demands the authority it defies, 
the thing it hates. 

We can master some problems, but they are the 
small problems which confront us; we can rule 
some provinces, but they are but insignificant 
patches on the map of life. Thoughtful souls 
struggling to comprehend the situation are strik- 



98 



THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 



ing the bars of their own limitations, like captive 
birds, only to find how hopeless the endeavor. The 
finite straggles in vain to compass the infinite. 
One of two things must result: we fall down in 
weariness of despair or accept the highest author- 
ity we know and follow it. It is just here that 
the revelation of God in Jesus Christ comes to 
us when accepted by faith. We reach the bounda- 
ries of the human and pass with increasing delight 
into the fields of the infinite. To the intelligent 
and devout the acceptance of Jesus Christ in sim- 
ple faith is the beginning of rest. He is an in- 
tellectual necessity. The mind must have mas- 
tery, or it fails utterly of rest. It can never solve 
its own great questions, save as it brings them 
to one greater than itself. He is to be congrat- 
ulated who has come through the conflict of in- 
tellectual questionings into the conscious presence 
of the divine Master and accepted with joy his 
authority. Such a center of intellectual rest 
many a soul never finds-. 

If you are to be congratulated on the peace of 
mind resulting from submission to divine author- 
ity, not less may you rejoice in its satisfaction of 
heart. The heart finds its rest and comfort in 
love and the service it demands. It is submission 
to an authority the most absolute in the world. 
The lover discovers his keenest satisfaction in that 
kind of service which is fragrant with personal 



ITS INSPIRATIONS. 99 

sacrifice — the outward badge of his absolute devo- 
tion. So is it in all the nobler relationships of 
life. We are happiest under the dictates of love. 
We reach our highest satisfaction in the places of 
submission and service. This inspires the father 
as he toils for his family with unselfish endeavor, 
the soldier as he follows the flag with unquestioned 
devotion, and the Christian as he counts not his 
life dear unto himself. We find our highest joys in 
the absolute rule of an authority high above our- 
selves. Human experience ought to pave the way 
for the supremacy of Jesus Christ, for the heart 
rests and rejoices in the hour of submission to him. 
Is it any wonder that even with deep satisfaction 
John the Baptist may have said: "He must in- 
crease, but I must decrease ? " In such constraint 
do we find the delights of the largest liberty. The 
heart has need of authority. 

I am sure you will agree with me that the fail- 
ure of business and professional life is often at 
this very point. He who studies diplomacy rather 
than duty must ultimately fail. He who accepts 
and loves God has passed beyond legislation, be- 
yond the time demanded for judicial considerar 
tions of fundamental questions. These are set- 
tled, and the divine settlement of them is the law 
of life. Not legislation, but obedience, is the 
watchword of the hour. This high law of God 
covers the entire field of human activities and 



100 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

needs. On the coming of each new day, one lias 
but to ask how the law of God applies to the work 
of the day. There is no need to discuss the wis- 
dom of that law. What a practical center of rest, 
what economy of time and vigor, what quick adap- 
tation to environment comes to the soul obeying 
the divine law and life! It is the only conceiv- 
able conservation of human life and activity. It 
makes order possible out of chaois and harmony 
out of discord. It is folly to suppose that in the 
high fields of spiritual life each may be lawgiver 
and judge. The logic of the situation demands 
a higher authority over us all, or human peace, 
progress and unity are impossible. Just here it 
seems to me that some of our modern theology 
breaks down. What gives sense of security to us 
is not thai some one is undertaking to settle the 
matter of authority, but that it was settled and 
revealed long ago in Jesus Christ. The miller 
lowers his wheel to the current of the stream, 
fastens it there, and God grinds his corn. So I 
put my anxious little life down into the current of 
the divine life and movement, and God takes up 
its burden and in the place of submission I have 
both rest and power. We may rejoice with Brown- 
ing as he sings: 

" God's in his heaven; 
All's well with the world." 



ITS INSPIRATIONS. 101 

Is it, then, a small inspiration that this peace of 
inind, this joy of heart, this law of life is ours? 
Is not the divine authority yon recognize and obey 
an abiding witness of the presence and power of 
God in your own life? 

Third, the inspiration of knowledge. To you 
it is given to work in the light of truth. Love is 
the beginning of deeper knowledge, as fire is of 
light. The great artist, Benjamin West, once 
said: "A kiss from my mother made me a 
painter." So it comes to pass that when the way- 
ward heart of man is won back to God and the 
inspiration of the new relationship is upon him, 
there naturally follows a desire for all knowledge 
relating to him. So " the fear of the Lord is the 
beginning of wisdom." The place of reconcilia- 
tion becomes the fountain head of all truth, and 
truth makes free. Therefore the search for truth, 
to the wise, becomes a mighty inspiration. I 
covet for the ministry of the future a hunger for 
truth — truth freed from the bonds of mere par- 
tisanship ; truth freed from the selfishness of busi- 
ness; truth in the beauty of its simplicity, the 
Tightness of its relationship, the eternity of its 
power. It was Jesus who said : " I am the truth." 
Magnify the privilege of being his disciple. The 
more you know the greater will be the desire for 
knowledge. It is said that the water lily in the 
midst of waters opens its leaves and expands its 



102 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

petals at the first pattering of the shower and re- 
joices in the raindrops with a quicker sympathy 
than the parched shrub in the sandy desert. Such 
is the growing capacity of the student of the truth. 
There is an abiding inspiration in the conscious 
growth of mind and heart. " If ye continue in 
my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and 
ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make 
you free." Comprehending for ourselves and 
teaching others — not speculations or falsehoods, 
but — the eternal, unchanging truth of God, is to 
live and minister in dignity and power. To what 
limitless white fields does it invite the mind and 
heart of man! Robertson once said in his 
thoughtful way : " The truth is infinite as the 
firmament above you. In childhood both seemed 
near and measurable; but with the years they grow 
and grow, and seem farther off and farther, and 
grander and deeper and vaster as God himself, 
till you smile to remember how you thought you 
could touch the sky and blush to recollect the proud, 
self -sufficient way in which you used to talk of 
knowing or preaching c the truth/ " But the in- 
finite boundaries and possibilities do not lessen 
the joy of those simple fundamentals which may 
bring forgiveness, peace and trust to the newest 
and humblest believer. How, think you, do the 
tricks of trade, of profession, of politics compare 
with the truth of God as furnishing a working 



ITS INSPIRATIONS. 103 

light and stimulus for a life stepping toward eter- 
nity? In my early ministry there came to me 
as an inquirer a small, unpromising boy. We 
knelt together, and he rejoiced in God's smile of 
forgiveness. Later it was my privilege to lead 
him through the baptismal waters. He soon be- 
gan to show remarkable aptness for study. He 
entered the seminary and graduated first in his 
class. He went away to college, made a brilliant 
record and was valedictorian of his class. Later 
he became president of one of our Western univer- 
sities. A brilliant, devout thinker and speaker, 
he was in great demand far and near. He was a 
profound scholar for one of his years. In the 
midst of his high career he was mysteriously 
stricken with disease and went down to death. 
Just before the end came he turned to his weeping 
wife and said, substantially, these words : " I 
would not have you mourn for me when I am gone. 
I have been a student all these years, a seeker 
after truth, and have mourned over my limitar 
tions ; and now I am about to go into the presence 
of the great Teacher, and I wish, you to think of 
me as sitting at his feet listening, a glad and satis- 
fied soul." It is a great inspiration to be con- 
sciously stepping into the truth. 

Fourth, the inspiration of service. We almost 
instinctively recognize the fact that human life, 
at its best, is created for sendee; and we are 



104 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

satisfied with nothing less. Great manhood, 
great womanhood, is conditioned on an endeavor 
worthy of itself. It becomes, therefore, a matter 
of vital importance as to what the kind of serv- 
ice shall be. Activity must be glorified with pur- 
pose. If we be true to ourselves, it will simply 
be a question as to where we can serve our day 
and generation the best. I submit to you in all 
candor that no field of labor is comparable with 
that of christian service, and no christian service 
is higher than that rendered the children. Such 
service accomplishes for yourself and others what 
needs to be done and will remain forever undone 
without it. Its demands help greatly in devel- 
oping every noble impulse within you and smoth- 
ering every evil one. It puts you into working 
fellowship with those who do God's will and seek 
to lift their fellows out of doubt and sin into the 
eternal sunshine of trust and purity; it lays hold 
of the things vital and eternal to yourself and 
those with whom you have to do; it fits into the 
very place where you are to earn your bread, if 
that place is a worthy one; it gives a point of con- 
stant touch with God. 

The work of the Sunday school aims at the very 
heart of the world's great problems. It seeks for 
individual regeneration, and so the regeneration 
of the home, the nation, the world. Every sane 
man knows that anything short of this must fail. 



ITS INSPIRATIONS. 105 

Men must fear God and keep his commandments, 
or the hope of great and glorious life every- 
where will die. You, then, who seek to do God's 
will in this work are at the very heart of things; 
you touch the vitals of the n.ation and the world; 
you clear the way for business education, legisla,- 
tion, regeneration. Without your work, all other 
work must ultimately fail. Other endeavors are 
but incidental, while this for the children is vital. 
No business man, no statesman, no philanthropist, 
no scientist, no soldier can be more at the center 
of the world's issues than the intelligent Christian 
worker for children. There is no dignity, no in- 
spiration coming to life anywhere so great a& that 
which comes to the intelligent, devout sx)ul who 
labors to save those who are to be the men and the 
women of to-morrow. The church of the future 
is the child of to-day. What stronger testimony 
to the worth of early religious training and the 
value of the Sunday-school is possible than the 
fact that eighty-three per cent of all who come 
into the communicant membership of the churches 
come from the Sunday school? It is a fact be- 
yond all shadow of a doubt that if we train the 
child we have saved him to himself, to God and 
to our country. What an appeal to patriotism 
and piety is here! I am profoundly convinced 
that no work outside of the home is so far reach- 
ing, effective — and therefore necessary — as the 



106 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

work of the Sunday-school among the children. 
If it is well done, it preempts the mind and heart 
of the child for righteousness before the world has 
taken practical possession of it. The school 
"unites with the home in this effort to save and 
keep the child. It means personal forgiveness 
and peace, purity of life, growing intelligence, 
and cooperation in all that makes a community 
and a nation happy and great. Some one has re- 
cently said : " The only thing God can make a 
man out of is a boy; therefore take care of the 
boy." If we love Christ and are sincere in the 
prayer, " Thy kingdom come," we must take care 
of the children; for "the child is father of the 
man." We cannot consistently offer this petition 
and then ignore the only material out of which 
God's kingdom among men can be made. There 
is a danger that we allow trivial discouragements 
to turn us from quick sympathy with the children. 
There may be a self-sufficient, obstreperous age, 
often trying; but we must not be misled by it. 
There is an angel in the marble. Hon. Leslie M. 
Shaw, Secretary of the Treasury, said not long 
since in a plea for boys: "When they are in 
dresses, the mothers fondle them, curl their hair, 
and praise them to their neighbors ; but when they 
are in short pants, noisy, and wild over baseball, 
they are often discounted and dreaded, till they 
honestly wonder if anybody loves them. The at- 



ITS INSPIRATIONS. 107 

mosphere in which they live is illustrated by the 
nervous mother who asked of the nurse girl: 
c Where is Johnnie ?' ' He is down in the back 
yard/ c What is he doing ? 9 C I don't know/ 
c Well, you go down and tell him to stop/ " We 
must address ourselves to the children, and, look- 
ing beyond the dirty hands and noisy feet, see 
what Jesus saw when he said : " Suffer little chil- 
dren, and forbid them not, to come unto me : for 
of such is the kingdom of heaven/' Then the 
flash of inspiration will be seen in all work for 
their salvation and development. 

There are always inspirations in constructive 
work along high lines — the winning of a child 
life for Christ, instruction in christian truth, cul- 
tivation in christian life, and the application of 
both to everyday experience and duty, thus bring- 
ing to the world's work a new, strong, delightful 
helper. Have you not seen a faithful teacher, 
grown old in noble service, touched with a pro- 
found and uplifting satisfaction as he saw the 
truth he loved incarnate and regnant in some pu- 
pil he had taught ? The pupil was at once his vin- 
dication and reward in the very service he was 
giving to God and man. The mother fades and 
weakens beneath the burdens of the years, but she 
finds her compensation in that all that has been 
holiest and best in her lives again in the larger, 
fresher life of her worthy child. Thus do great 



108 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

and pure lives perfect and multiply themselves 
forever. The christian home and Sunday school 
offer the finest field of endeavor in the world to 
those who would thus enrich both time and eter- 
nity and leave a legacy of blessing to those who 
follow. 

" So when a great man dies, 
For years beyond our ken 
The light he leaves behind him lies 
Upon the paths of men." 

Fifth, what mighty inspirations to great patri- 
otism are here! If we love our country and de- 
sire to perpetuate her institutions; if we would 
insure her unity, prosperity and strength, we can- 
not labor more directly or efficiently than in the 
christian culture of the children. If in the great 
future America holds the balance of power among 
the nations and more tha*n any other nation 
blesses the world, it will be because of that wise, 
heroic service which conquered while it "won and 
taught the children that kind of righteousness 
which alone exalts a nation. The battle on whose 
issue hangs the future of our country will be fought 
neither by armies nor navies, will be the result of 
neither legislative wisdom nor diplomatic skill, 
save as they represent the gathered moral and spir- 
ual forces of christian homes and christian 
churches. I covet for you and myself that patri- 
otic instinct which discerns the morning of man- 



ITS INSPIRATIONS. 109 

hood in the child and struggles as bravely and 
wisely for its conquest as any soldier who ever 
followed the flag amid carnage and death. I 
would not belittle the well-earned glory of those 
who have won the soldier's laurels, but remind you 
that there is a heroism surpassing even this, I 
would recognize and honor the wisdom of that 
courage which builds and protects the home in 
which God is honored and young life is trained 
in the great principles for which a good nation 
stands. In the final accounting many a hero will 
be crowned who has walked comparatively obscure 
paths and whose conquests have been among a 
little people as yet unknown to the world. Ke- 
joice in the contribution which, under God, may 
be yours to your country's greatness and glory. 
At last it will be reward enough to know that your 
life and labor have stood for individual piety, home 
religion, civic righteousness, national purity and 
strength, world-wide influence and helpfulness. 
I pray you be not misled by the apparent obscurity 
and smallness of this work for children. God 
often works in quietness and shadow. The great 
movements of nature on which everything depends 
are usually hidden and noiseless. There is but 
one Niagara, while there are millions of silent, 
unknown springs among the woodlands and fields 
without whose quiet contributions the world would 
die. We are to furnish the young life for our 



110 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

colleges and universities, the coming leaders in 
literature, art, science, statecraft, philanthropy, re- 
ligion. We are making the world's men and 
women for to-morrow. Let no one belittle the 
grandeur of the movement or the inspiration of 
the hour. 



APPENDIX A. 



Annual Tea 

OFFICERS AND TEACHERS 

Sunday School of Calvary Baptist Church 

WASHINGTON, O. C. 

OCTOBER 23, 1903 

Programme 

W. S. Shai,i,enberger, Presiding 

All things are ready if our minds be so.— Shakespeare. 

" In the Mountains of Tennessee ". .Prof. J. C. Welsh. 
To me 
High mountains are a feeling.— Byron. 

" Through the Storm " Miss Dorothy Fox. 

"Tis a fearful night: 

There's danger on the deep.— Bayly. 

Song-— " All Eternity " Miss Blanche Thyson. 

"The Land of the Sky " Dr. Mitchell Carroll. 

The blue sky bends over all.— Coleridge. 

Song:—" Mona "—-Adams Dr. C. L,. Bliss. 

A few can touch the magic string, 

And noisy fame is proud to win them ; 
Alas for those that never sing, 

But die with all their music in them.— Holmes. 

" A Summer on Chautauqua Lake " 

Miss Minnie Hegeman, 

Pleasure and action make the hours seem short. — Shakespeare. 

Song — "Leave Me Not".. Mrs. James C. McKahan. 

" Some People I Have Met " Mr. Louis D. Bliss. 

By many a happy accident.— Middleton. 



112 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

" Things Sweet to Taste " 

"Something for each of us now to do." 

" As You I^ike It " The Pastor. 

Perhaps it may turn out a song, 

Perhaps turn out a sermon.— Burns. 

" Blest be the Tie that Binds " 

" Benediction " 



APPENDIX B. 



FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

OF THE 

Sunday School of Calvary Baptist Church 

Citt of Washington 

TWELFTH ANNUAL BANQUET 

OF THH 

OFFICERS AND TEACHERS 



Triday, April 3, 1903 

ORDER OF THE EVENING. 

SOCIAL, GREETINGS 

But harkl the chiming clocks to dinner call.— Pope. 

Tbc Dinner 

THE BLESSING. If before repast it shall please you to 

gratify the table with a grace. 

—Love's Labor's Lost 

Cl*AM BoUIIyLyON. A hot friend cooling.— Julius Ccesar. 

Broiled Shad. Thy blood is cold; 

Thou hast no speculation in those 

ejres 
Which thou dost glare with. 

— Macbeth. 



APPENDIX B. 



113 



Sauce Piquante. 
Potato Juuenne. 
Stuffed Ouves. 
Sweet Picki.es. 
Sainted Almonds. 
Fii,et of Beef. 

Mushroom Sauce. 
Potatoes. 
Green Peas. 
Tomato Sai^ad. 

Ice Cream. 
Fancy Cakes. 
Birthday Cake. 
Coffee. 



You yet do taste some subtleties. 

— Tempest. 

Out of the bowels of the boundless 
earth. —King Henry IV. 

She is drowned already, sir, in salt 
water. —Twelfth Night. 

Balmed and entreasured with full 
bags of spices. —Pericles. 

We have some salt of our youth in 
us. — Merry Wives of Windsor. 

An old and faithful friend, 
We are glad to see you. 

— Measure for Measure. 

I came upstairs into the world ; fop I 
was born in a cellar.— Love for Love. 

Let the sky rain potatoes. 

— Merry Wives of Windsor. 

We can call these delicate creatures 
ours. —Othello. 

My salad days, when I was green in 
judgment, cold in blood. 

—Antony and Cleopatra. 

Who's that calls so loudly ? 

A piece of ice. — Taming of the Shrew. 

A deal of shamble skamble stuff. 

—King Henry IV. 

My cake is dough. 

— Taming of the Shrew. 

Water with berries in't. — Tempest. 



Serenely full, the epicure would say 

Fate cannot harm me — I have dined to-day. 

— Sidney Smith. 



After Dinner 

Discourse, the sweeter banquet of the mind. — Odyssey. 
Music her soft assuasive voice applies.— £<. Cecilia's Day. 

TOASTMASTER : 
HON. W. S. SHAU,ENBERGER. 

1 Many Happy Returns " Rev. L,. B. Wilson, D.D. 

My Expectation " Mr. S. W. Woodward 



114 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

Quartette from " Rigoletto " Verdi. 

Mrs W. H. Shir-Cliff. Mrs. J. C. Price. 

Mr. W. D. McFarland. Mr. J. H. Nolan. 

Mr. A. D. Mayo, Accompanist. 

" A Birthday Message " 

Rev. Kerr Boyce Tupper, D.D., L,L,.D. 

Selections from " IlTrovatore " Verdi. 

Mrs. Shir-Cliff. Mrs. Price. 

Mr. McFarland. Mr. Nolan. 

Mr. C. E. Rice. 

"A Birthday Wish " The Pastor. 

Benedictory Prayer 

Before us, even as behind, 
God is, and all is well. 

— Whittier. 



APPENDIX C. 



CHILDREN'S DAY SERVICE, 

SUNDAY, JUNE J5, J902. 

J 0.30 O'CLOCK A.M. 

SUNDAY SCHOOL OF CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH, 

CITY OF WASHINGTON. 



MASTER JULIAN CARROLL HAMMACK, PRISIDINQ. 

©r&er of Service* 

Processional Music — 

Organ — March from " Queen of Sheba " . . Gounod. 

Mr. A. D. Mayo. 
Chorus — " Hear the Happy Children Singing- " 
Stainer. 



APPENDIX C. 115 

Responsive Reading" — 

Bless the Lord, all His works, in all places of His Dominion. 

For lof the winter is past, the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the 
singing of birds is come. 

The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the 
desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 

The trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the Lord, give thanks 
unto tlie Lord. 

From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, the 
Lord's name be praised. 

Lord, open Thou our lips, and our mouths shall show forth Thy praise. 

Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth, forever- 
more. 

Gloria. 

Hymn — "Jesus, We L,ove to Meet on This Thy 
Holy Day " Read. 

Junior and Intermediate Departments. 

Prayer — Closing- with Iyord's Prayer chanted. . . . 

Mr. P. H. Bristow. 

Recitation — " Children's Day " I^ynn Davenport. 

Song — " Happy Are the Meadows " Knowlton. 

Intermediate and Primary Departments. 

Greeting The Pastor. 

Response Julian Hammack. 



©rfcer of Service* 

I. — The Shepherd and th^ Lambs. 

Recitation— 4 ' The First Children's Day " 

Genevieve Kinnear* 

Solo— "I Think When I Read That Sweet Story 

of Old " Annie Nelson. 

Address— " Our Cradle Roll " John Wolf. 

Cradle Roll Song- Knowlton. 

Kindergarten Department. 



116 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

Recitation— " The little Pink-Toe Brigade 

. . Alvin Boxwell. 

Song- — " The Child and the Angel " Rubinstein. 

Junior Department Chorus. 

Recitation — " We Have a Tender Shepherd " 

Catherine O'Connell. 

Responsive Recitation — " Our Shepherd " 

Robert Gotta, Ina Fagan, and Members of 
Primary Department. 

Song — " Sweetly Sing the Children " Challinor. 

Girls' Chorus. 

II. — The Good Shepherd. 

Concert Recitation — "The Iyord is My Shepherd." 
Congregation. 

Hymn— -" The King of L,ove My Shepherd Is " . . . 

Gounod. 

Junior and Intermediate Departments. 

Recitation — " His L4ttle I^amb ". . .Elizabeth Armes 

Hymn — " In Heavenly L,ove Abiding " Ramsey. 

Boy Choir. 

Recitation—" Not of This Fold " Florence Silsby. 

Offering — For Miss Stickney's Work in Burina." 
Announcements, 



(JPrOcr ot Service* 

III. — The L,ost Sheep. 

Recitation — " The Ninety and Nine " 

Rosalie Bartlett. 

Recitation — " I Was a Wandering Sheep " 

Evlynne Heffernan. 



APPENDIX C. 117 

Solo— " Ivord, I'm Coming- Home " Kirkpatrick. 

Richie McL<ean. 

Prayer Rev. A. F. Anderson. 

IV.— The Heavenly Fold. 
Recitation — " Gathered Home " Miriam Hammer. 

Antiphonal Hymn— " Jesus, Shepherd of the 

Sheep " Warren. 

School. 

Primary Department— 

Jesus, Shepherd of the sheep, 
Who Thy Father's flock dost keep, 
Safe we wake and safe we sleep, 
Guarded still by Thee. 

Intermediate Department— 

In Thy promise firm we stand ; 
None can pluck us from Thy hand. 
Speak— we hear ; at Thy command 
We will follow Thee. 

Junior Department— 

By Thy blood our souls were bought, 
By Thy life salvation wrought : 
By Thy word our feet are taught, 
Lord, to follow Thee. 

Adult Department— 

Father, draw us to Thy Son; 
We with joy will follow on, 
Till the work of grace is done, 
And, from sin set free. 

SCHOOli— 

We, in robes of glory dress'd, 
Join th' assembly of the blest, 
Gather'd to eternal rest, 
In the fold with Thee. 

Benedictory Prayer The Superintendent. 

Recessional — Triumphal March Sullivan. 

Mr. Mayo. 



118 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 



APPENDIX D. 



ANNUL 10LL Qglli MY. 

SUNDAY SCHOOL 

OF CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH, 
City of Washington, 

Sunday, March 23, J902. 

Order of Service. 

Organ Processional Mr. A. D. Mayo. 

Singing— Church Hymnal, 209, " Holy, Holy, 
Holy " School. 

Recitation — One Hundredth Psalm 

, Primary Department. 

Prayer Mr. A. F. Anderson. 

Followed by the Ivord's Prayer chanted . . . School. 

Scriptural Reading — The Golden Texts of the Quar- 
ter— 

Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come 
upon you. 

The promise is unto you, and to your children. 

The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. 

The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my sal- 
vation. 

There is none other name under heaven given among men, 

whereby we must be saved. 
"Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with 

his neighbor. 
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake : 

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 
Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the 

soul. 
Pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. 



APPENDIX D. 119 

Order of Service* 

Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere 

preaching the word. 
With the heart man believeth unto righteousness : and with 

the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 

Singing- Primary Department. 

Offering- — For Miss Julia Stickney's work in Burma, 
India. 

Singing — Church Hymnal, 476, " Work, for the 
Night is Coming " School. 

Roll Call — Number enrolled ; number preseat. 

Singing Junior Department. 

A Message from the Pastor. 

Singing — " Jerusalem " Boy Choir. 

Scriptural Reading — 

Praise ye the Lord : for it is good to sing praises to our God. 

Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving ; sing praise upon the 
harp unto our God. 

Great is our Lord, and of great power : his understanding is 
infinite. 

He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. 

The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that 
hope in his mercy. 

Praise the Lord, Jerusalem ; praise thy God, O Zion. 

For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath 
blessed thy children within thee. 

He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the fin- 
est of the wheat. 

He hath not dealt so with any nation : Praise ye the Lord. 

Doxology School. 

Benediction Intermediate Department. 

Organ Recessional Mr. A. D. Mayo. 



120 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 



APPENDIX E. 



Proceedings of Teachers' Bible Club. 

Held to Study the Lesson of November 29, 1903. 

The Teachers' Bible Club of the Sunday school 
of Calvary Baptist Church, of Washington, D. C, 
convened for the purpose of studying the lesson 
of November 29, found in 1 Chron. 28 : 1-10, the 
subject being " David's Charge to 'Solomon/' 

The meeting was conducted by Mr. P. H. Brisr 
tow, superintendent of the Adult Department of 
the Sunday school and leader of the club. 

Mr. P. W. Vaughn opened the meeting by of- 
fering the following prayer: 

" Our Heavenly Father, we thank thee for the 
care thou hast had over us since last we gathered 
here. We thank thee for all thou hast revealed 
to us of thyself and thy word; for thou art the 
Author of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ 
in the world — that great instrumentality for lift- 
ing men up toward God — and of the Sunday 
school of the church, teaching us through its in- 
strumentality. 

" We thank thee for the revelation made to us 
that thou art our Creator, our Eedeemer, our Sav- 
ior; we thank thee, our Heavenly Father, for thy 



APPENDIX E. 121 

word of truth — that wonderful Book which teaches 
us from whence we came, what we are, and 
whither we are going; we thank thee for those 
thou hast put in charge of the church to be leaders 
among us — men after thine own heart; we pray 
thee to bless the leaders of the church and Sunday 
school, and may they lead us into paths that shall 
lead to thee. 

"We pray thee to bless our teachers in this 
great work. May we be a little more faithful be- 
cause of our having gathered here to-night, a lit- 
tle more helpful and earnest, that others may be 
taught of thee, that others may get acquainted, 
through our instrumentality, with thee and be at 
peace. 

" Bless all of our scholars. We pray thee that 
thy word may not return to thee void; that it may 
accomplish that whereunto thou hast sent it. 
When thou art done with this stewardship here, 
may we be accepted with the plaudit, c Well done, 
thou good and faithful servant: . . . enter 
thou into the joy of thy Lord/ we ask in Jesus' 
name." 

Mr. Bristow then presented the lesson under 
consideration, "David's Charge to Solomon/' as 
contained in 1 Chron. 28 : 1-10, which was read 
by the club, with the following remarks : 

H In presenting the lesson to-night, I shall use 
many of the facts found in one or two chapters 



122 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

just preceding the one from which the lesson is 
selected and also in the chapter following. I do 
this for the reason that if we use simply the text 
as given in our helps we are focusing our thoughts 
and vision on merely one little portion of a pic- 
ture; while if we go back and lead up to the les- 
son, and then follow it to its conclusion, as given 
in chapter 29, we surround it with lights we would 
not otherwise have. Undoubtedly, we derive a 
great advantage by studying the lesson in this 
way. 

" Our first paper to-night will be by Mrs. Drew 
on the c Intervening Events/ " 

Mrs. G. J. Drew then read the following paper, 
calling attention to the principal events between 
the lesson of two weeks ago and that now being 
studied : 

" Many of us will remember in our last study of 
David, two weeks ago, how our lesson closed — that 
last verse, the father's grief for the child : i my 
son Absalom ! . . . would God I had died for 
thee ! ' We left David at Mahanaim, on the east side 
of the Jordan, where he had fled after the rebellion 
of Absalom. In the battle which had just oc- 
curred between David's army and the rebel army, 
in which his son had been killed, in his grief as a 
father, he forgot the fact that he was king. The 
army came back, and, noticing this, became de- 
moralized. This aroused the anger of Joab, the 



APPENDIX E. 123 

general in command; so he rebuked David. Da- 
vid followed his advice and went down and received 
his soldiers in a proper manner. The tie between 
the tribes was not yet very firm. Absalom being 
dead and having received the allegiance of a great 
many people, it seemed necessary to reelect a king. 
The northern tribes, with Ephraim at their head, 
were the first to renew their homage to one who, 
they said, had delivered them out of the hands of 
their enemies. Strange to say, Judah, his own 
tribe, held back. David succeeded in placating 
them by sending Amasa to them, who was a mem- 
ber of their own tribe, with the promise that he 
should be made commander of the army instead 
of Joab. They sent an invitation to David to re- 
turn ; and they also went, and, without consulting 
the other tribes, brought him back in triumph to 
Jerusalem. This caused a bitter quarrel between 
the tribes. Amid the strife, Sheba, a prominent 
man, blew a trumpet, and some one raised a cry : 
'We have no part in David, neither have we in- 
heritance in the son of Jesse; every man to his 
tent, Israel.' The cry was repeated until every 
man of the ten tribes present drew off from David. 
" Thus a new rebellion had broken out. Amasa, 
the new commander, was ordered to collect all the 
men he could and report to the king in three days. 
Not returning, however, within that time, Abishai 
was ordered to start at once in pursuit of Sheba. 



124 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

Joab also collected some troops and joined in the 
pursuit, during which the two men, Joab and 
Amasa, met; and Joab killed Amasa, and then 
continued the pursuit until they reached a town 
in the northern part of the country. Joab laid 
siege to the city ; and the people, rather than have 
their town destroyed, killed Sheba and threw his 
head over the wall, which ended the rebellion. 

"After this, David's life was spent more quietly. 
His time was taken up by gathering material for 
the temple which Solomon was to build; and, be- 
ing now seventy years old, it looked as though 
his life would end in peace. David had prom- 
ised, and it had been so regarded, that Solomon 
was to be the future king; but Adonijah, David's 
oldest living son, formed a conspiracy to become 
king himself, and called a meeting for that pur- 
pose. David, having been informed of this, had 
Solomon proclaimed king in his place, and shortly 
afterwards gave Solomon the charge which occurs 
in the lesson of the evening/' 

Mr. Bristow : As I studied the lesson, it divided 
itself naturally into four principal parte — i. e. : 

1. We find in verse 1 the account of the con- 
vening of a great assembly of the leading men of 
Israel by David/the king, before which he was to 
deliver his charge to Solomon, his son and suc- 
cessor. 

2. In verses 2-7 is given the principal part ot 



APPENDIX B. 125 

the address of David to the men assembled. He 
first suggests that he had had it in his heart to 
build a house for the ark of the Lord and for the 
"footstool of our God," but that God had told 
him he should not, because he had been a man of 
war and had shed blood. He goes on then to de- 
clare and make known to the people whom he 
had gathered his title to the throne^, asserting that 
he had been selected of God, and that Solomon 
also had been selected to succeed him. 

3. Verse 8 constitutes the charge of David to 
all the people of Israel. 

4. Verses 9, 10 constitute the charge to Solo- 
mon by David; and it was the last, I suppose, he 
ever made to him in public. 

When we come to a more critical study of the 
lesson, we shall find very many points of interest. 

[Referring to a blackboard, Mr. Bristow con- 
tinued:] 

As you will see on the board, I shall present 
first my "argument," if it may be so styled — a 
suggestion of what I propose to bring out in the 
further study of the lesson as it shall be enlarged 
upon. The following are twelve subjects sug- 
gested for study : 

1. David's laist conference with the leaders of 
Israel. 

2. His attitude before them and his manner of 
address. 



126 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. ^ 

3. The declaration of what was in his heart 
concerning the temple. 

4. God's control over the work and destiny of 
men : " Thou shalt not build." 

5. David declares his own and Solomon's title 
to the throne: chosen of God. 

6. Permanency of Solomon's kingdom: upon a 
named condition. 

7. The charge to the people in the sight of Is- 
rael, the congregation, and in the audience of God. 

8. The charge itself : " Keep and seek for all the 
commandments of the Lord your God." 

9. The promise: "That ye may possess this 
good land, and leave it for an inheritance." 

10. The charge to Solomon: "Know thou the 
God, . . . serve him." He " searcheth all 
hearts." 

11. "If thou seek him, he will be found; . . . 
if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off." 

12. He "hath chosen thee to build a house: 
. . . be strong, and do it." 

Mr. Bristow: I will ask Judge Smith to read 
verse 1 of the lesson. 

Judge L. R. Smith reads : 

"And David assembled all the princes of Israel, 
the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the 
companies that ministered to the king by course, 
and the captains over the thousands, and captains 
over the hundreds, and the stewards over all the 



APPENDIX E. 127 

substance and possession of the king, and of his 
sons, with the officers, and with the mighty men, 
and with all the valiant men, unto Jerusalem." 

Mr. Bristow: Did you ever think, Judge, how 
many men constituted this gathering ? 

Judge Smith: I have not figured it up, but I 
think they are mentioned in the preceding chap- 
ter (chapter 27), and perhaps in chapter 26. I 
have not calculated the numbar. 

Mr. Bristow : Has any one calculated the num- 
ber that was probably at this meeting? In the 
first place, there were "the princes of Israel," 
then "the princes of the tribes," and then "the 
captains of the companies." [Addressing Judge 
Smith:] Those were captains of what compa- 
nies, Judge? 

Judge Smith : Those that were appointed to do 
service, is my recollection. 

Mr. Bristow (addressing Mr. George Smith) ; 
Do you remember, Mr. Smith, how many of these 
people there were " that ministered to the king by 
course ? " 

Mr. Smith : I do not remember. You have ref- 
erence to those captains of the twelve tribes and 
those that were doing special service — the king's 
guards, for instance. I believe, with Judge Smith, 
that those are the companies to which reference is 
made. 

Mr. Bristow : How many were in each company ? 



128 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

Mr. Smith: Twenty-four thousand. 

Mr. Bristow: How long did each company 
serve ? 

Mr. Smith : One month. 

Mr. Bristow: I desire to call the attention of 
the club to the fact that David was as careful in 
his management of the civil affairs of the govern- 
ment as when he was in the field commanding his 
armies. His standing army in times of peace was 
compoised of two hundred and eighty-eight thou- 
sand men, divided into twelve companies of twen- 
ty-four thousand each, who were set apart, to do 
the king service "by "course" and in any part of the 
kingdom where desired. So- twenty-four thousand 
men, for each month in the year, thus served. 
They "came in and went out month by month 
throughout all the months of the year." These 
are the " captains of the companies " referred to in 
verse 1 of the lesson. Such organization shows 
how careful David was in caring for his- nation 
and for his people in times of peace as well as war. 
I emphasize this, because it brings out especially 
a characteristic of David in the systematic way 
in which he went about everything. You will re- 
member that David had caused, or ordered, the 
people to be numbered; but this was in violation 
of God's command, and Joab became tired of the 
task, and David himself did not insist upon it. 
In this connection it is important to note that all 



APPENDIX E. 



129 



of the two hundred and eighty-eight thousand 
men just referred to were young and vigorous., 
none of them less than twenty years of age and 
none of them exceeding forty or forty-five years 
of age. Probably not nearly all the men between 
those ages were enlisted in this standing army, 
and from these figures some estimate may be had 
of the vast population of David's kingdom. The 
people had surely become " as the stars of heaven." 
It is hardly possible for us to comprehend the 
numbers of the hosts of Israel. Then there were 
"the captains over the thousands, and captains 
over the hundreds, and the stewards over all the 
substance and possession of the king." [Kefer- 
ring to the blackboard:] You will find on th& 
board a list of "the stewards over all tha sub- 
stance." They were rulers over the king's treas- 
ure, rulers over the storehouses, in the fields, in 
the cities, in the villages, and in the castles. See 
how careful David was regarding the substance 
of the land. There were also the rulers over the 
workmen in the fields, over the workmen in the 
vineyards, over the workmen in the wine cellars, 
over the workmen of the sycamore and olive trees, 
over the workmen of the oil cellars, over the cam- 
els, over the asses, and over the flocks. Included 
with these were his "mighty men" and "the 
valiant men " of the nation in this great gather- 
ing of leading men. I have estimated that there 



130 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

were probably between fourteen hundred and fif- 
teen hundred men in the assembly. Here were 
representatives of a mighty people assembled at 
a meeting which, in the end, turned out to be a 
religious one. 

Judge Smith: Does the record show that they 
had any general officers in addition to the cap- 
tains? 

Mr. Bristow: It does not, but I presume they 
had. 

Mr. Vaughn : Can you make any application of 
this lesson to the Sunday school ? 

Mr. Bristow : I think so. Perhaps we may over- 
organize; yet I believe if you liave your hands 
on the members of your class in a way that is not 
burdensome, but in a way that makes a systematic 
division of labor, there cannot help but be success, 
A school should be made up of organized workers 
to accomplish the best results. A hobby of mine 
has always been organization, and I have found 
that it pays. Mr. Vaughn, will you please read 
verse 2? 

Whereupon Mr. Vaughn read: 

" Then David the king stood up upon his feet, 
and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: 
As for me, I had in mine heart to build an hause 
of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, 
and for the footstool of our God, and had made 
ready for the building." 



APPENDIX E. 131 

Mr. Bristow: Mias White, is there any signifi- 
cance in the attitude which David took ? 

Miss Sadie White: I do not understand you 
about his "attitude." 

Mr. Bristow: I mean his bodily attitude. 

Miss White : He did some honor to his people in 
standing ; he could be heard better. 

Mr. Bristol : What was his physical condition 
at that time, Miss Bell? 

Miss Anna J. Bell : I think he had become very 
feeble. 

Mr. Bristow: You will find an account of his 
severe illness in 1 Kings 1, but he had recov- 
ered enough to stand up and address them on, this 
occasion. Did he do them honor, and how did 
he refer to them? 

-Mr. Vaughn : " My brethren, and my people." 

Miss Grace S. Silvers : Would not the very ear- 
nestness of David's appeal bring him to his feet? 

Miss Bell: That would depend upon what the 
custom of the people was at that time. 

Mrs. Dr. Pease: It would make it much more 
impressive, though. 

Mr. Bristow : He " stood up upon his feet, and 
said " — what did he say, Mr. Vaughn ? 

Mr. Vaughn : " My brethren, and my people." 

Mr. Bristow: What did he say he had in his 
heart to do, Miss White ? 



132 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

Miss White: To build a house to the Lord had 
been his cherished purpose. 

Mr. Bristow: Was there any outward evidence 
of David's desire to build a house for the Lord ? 

Miss White : 0, yes ! He had been working for 
it — had the material gathered together for the 
time to come to begin to build. 

Mr. Bristow: Mr. Stickney, will you read verse 
3 of the lesson, please ? 

Mr. Frank Stickney (reading) : 

" But God said unto me, Thou shalt not build a 
house for my name, because thou hast been a man 
of war, and hast shed blood." 

Mr. Bristow: What reasons are given why he 
should not build the house? 

Mr. Stickney: He said it was because he had 
been a man of war and had shed blood. 

Mr. Bristow: To build the house had been his 
ambition ? 

Mr. Stickney: Yes; the latter years of his life. 

Mr. Bristow: Had he determined to build a 
house in which to rest the ark of the Lord and 
"the footstool of our God?" 

Judge Smith: It became more impressed upon 
him when he thought of the manner in which the 
ark was kept. 

Mr. Bristow : Mr. Kellar will please read verse 4. 

Mr. 0. P. Kellar then read as follows: 

" Howbeit the Lord God of Israel chose me be- 



APPENDIX E. 133 

fore all the house of my father to be king over Is- 
rael forever : for he hath chosen Judah to be the 
ruler; and of the house of Judah, the house of 
my father; and among the sons of my father he 
liked me to make me king over all Israel." 

Mr. Bristow : We now come to David's successor. 
The title of David and that of Solomon to the 
throne of Israel are related. Dr. Eichardson will 
present a paper upon this subject. 

Dr. E. E. Eichardson then read the following 
paper, entitled " God's Choice of Solomon : " 

" In the selections of Saul and David to be kings 
we have a specific account of the manner in which 
the selections were made. 

" In the case of Solomon, however, while there 
are numerous allusions to the fact of God's choos- 
ing him, yet there is no actual account how and 
why this was done. 

" The explanation, or reason, for the difference 
in the way in which these selections were made 
is not far to seek. A public and impressive cere^ 
mony was to be expected, and was a necessary man- 
ner of making known God's choice in the case of 
the first king, Saul. 

"Also, when this same first royal line was to be 
supplanted and a new dynasty established, some 
visible, outward ceremony would be again the most 
likely means of informing the recipient and oth- 
ers interested, although in this instance the pub- 



134 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

licity was small compared with that of Saul, and 
perhaps was only understood at the time of those 
who witnessed it by Samuel. 

" In the accession of Solomon there was no new 
form of government or change of regal families. 
As a son of the king, he was one of those who, in 
the ordinary course of events., would come to the 
throne. 

"We may, then, look upon this selection as a 
choice limited to the children of David, and one 
that would be made known to David first, rather 
than to the son, who would become, by such selec- 
tion, his -successor. 

" Inasmuch as the regal power was still recog- 
nized somewhat at least as the 'throne of Je- 
hovah over Israel/ it was fitting, peculiarly so, 
that Jehovah should directly select the occupant. 
We are definitely told that this choice occurred 
before the birth of Solomon. 

a The manner in which David was informed of 
this is unknown; whether by priestly or prophetic 
intermediary or by direct intimation, we do not 
know. Inquiry as to why God chose Solomon may 
be met with the objection that we should not, or 
cannot, know why God does as he does. In answer 
it may be said that God acts in accordance with 
rational and moral laws. He could not be what 
he has revealed himself to be and do otherwise. 

" The reason for the selection here made is the 



APPENDIX E. 135 

same, we may believe, as occasioned the choice of 
Saul, of David, and of others in the world's his- 
tory — that is, the relatively superior fitness of the 
person for the place. 

" There was needed at this time, for the unifica- 
tion of the tribes, for the building of a temple 
for the national worship, to hold what David had 
gained in his conquests, and for the religious and 
social uplifting of the people, one who possessed 
administrative and executive capacity, one who 
possessed a high order of spirituality. Such qual- 
ifications, rather than those of a leader of armies, 
were needful on the part of him who should come 
after David as king. 

€< Solomon possessed the qualifications neces- 
sary for this work, and so was divinely chosen. 
If we wish to look at it from the other view point, 
God gave to him, or implanted in him, the need- 
ful capabilities, and, in virtue of this, selected 
him for the place he was to fill. 

"In reply to the question as to whether Solo- 
mon possessed what was needed of the one who 
should sit on the throne at this time, we may af- 
firm that he did have such qualifications. 

" The especial project — the building of the tem- 
ple — which David enjoined upon him was success- 
fully accomplished. 

" But particularly did Solomon rise to a higher 
and more spiritual conception of God, as is evi- 



136 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

deneed by his statements at the dedication of the 
temple. 

" That the latter part of his life should have 
sullied the bright beginning is no reflection upon 
the original choice. Man is a free moral being, 
unmakes a life of the greatest promise; and this 
is not only shown in the lives of Solomon, David, 
and Saul, but religious and profane history is re- 
plete with sad illustrations." 

Mr. Bristow: How did any one know that Sol- 
omon possessed the ability to be king over Israel? 

Answer : He had been chosen of God, and that 
was an evidence of fitness. He was also selected 
by the king to succeed him, although it was then, 
as now, the custom, in other nations, for the oldest 
son to succeed the king to the throne. 

Mr. Bristow : Was this true in the case of Da- 
vid? 

Answer: It was not; he was not the elder son. 

Mr. Bristow : Which son of Jesse was David ? 

Mr. Kellar: The eighth or ninth — at least, the 
seventh. 

Mr. Bristow: You will find in 1 Chron, 2: 15 
that David was the seventh son of Jesse. How- 
ever, I desire to say that I am not emphasizing 
the "seventh son" in any way. Will Miss Mc- 
Keever read verses 5, 6 of the lesson? 

Miss Mary McKeever then read as follows : 

"And of all my sons, (for the Lord hath given 



APPENDIX E. 



137 



me many sons,) he hath chosen Solomon my son 
to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord 
over Israel. 

"And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall 
build my house and my courts : for I have chosen 
him to be my son, and I will be his father." 

Mr. Bristow: In this connection, please refer 
to the blackboard and note the declaration of what 
David had in his heart about establishing the 
throne and observe the permanency of Solomon's 
kingdom. Was he selected by God to sit upon 
the throne? 

Miss McKeever: Yes; he was. 
Mr. Bristow: Yes; Solomon's choice to be suc- 
cessor to David on " the throne of the kingdom of 
the Lord over Israel" was of God. David expressly 
states in verse 6 that God told him that his son, 
Solomon, was to build the Lord's house and the 
courts. God chooses men for great enterprises, 
but men have a responsibility in their preparation 
for work which they have been set apart to do. 
Miss Silvers, will you please read verse 7 ? 
Miss Silvers then read: 

" Moreover I will establish his kingdom for- 
ever, if he be constant to do my commandments 
and my judgments, as at this day." 

Mr. Bristow: That is what I wanted to bring 
out — the condition on which the kingdom should 



138 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

be established. He will establish his kingdom 
upon what condition ? 

Miss Silvers: That he shall be constant to do 
God's commandments and judgments. 

Mr. Bristow : This verse does not name the com- 
mandments explicitly, but all of the command- 
ments are understood, in the keeping of them — in 
other words, absolute obedience. And he was to 
do God's judgments, as well as his command- 
ments ? 

Miss Silvers: Yes. 

Mr. Bristow: Can we accomplish anything if 
we are not in harmony with God's command- 
ments ? 

Miss Silvers : I think not. 

Mr. Bristow : We might for a time have a meas- 
ure of success, but it would be only temporary. 

Miss Silvers : Very often the people who do not 
obey God seem to get along better, temporally, 
than the good. 

Mr. Bristow : What did David say of the wicked ? 

Mr. Vaughn: They flourish "like a green bay 
tree." 

Mr. Bristow : How did he find out the contrary ? 

Mr. Vaughn: When he went into the house of 
the Lord. 

Mr. Bristow : Will Miss Bell please read verse 8 ? 

Miss Bell then read : 

"Now therefore in the sight of all Israel the 



APPENDIX E. 139 

congregation of the Lord, and in the audience of 
our God, keep and seek f o<r all the commandments 
of the Lord your God: that ye may possess this 
good land, and leave it for an inheritance for your 
children after you forever." 

Miss Bell: It seems to me that verses 8-10 of 
the lesson axe a sort of climax to David's address. 
He has been trying to make them understand that 
they are God's chosen people; that everything in 
the kingdom is as God wishes it to be — that is, 
as God has ordained it; that the kings are chosen 
of God; that it is God who has chosen the man 
who shall build the temple. He now wants them 
to understand that a great deal depends upon 
them ; that although the king may be a good king, 
yet the nation will not be successful unless the peo- 
ple are true ; and he seems to want to make them 
realize this fact, and that God is watching Israel 
to see if they are true. Then he goes on to say : 
" Seek all the commandments through the study 
of God's word and know his commandments and 
obey them." Probably he remembers when he 
himself made blunders through not obeying the 
commandments. 

Mr. Bristow: Was obedience necessary, as well 
as repentance and works? 

Miss Bell : All were necessary. 

Mr. Bristow: Then in the last part of verse 8 
David said : " That ye may possess this good land, 



140 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

and leave it for an inheritance for your children 
after you forever." True living is the only hope 
for the permanency of all nations. He wishes 
them to understand that the permanency of their 
kingdom will depend upon their true living; and 
then he wants them to realize that God desires 
that they shall possess the land and leave it to 
their children, and that they may do so if they 
obey him. And did they finally lose it? 

Mr. Stickney: Yes. 

Mr. Bristow: How? 

Mr. Stickney : Through disobedience. 

Mr. Bristow: Do you think that God wants 
every man to leave an inheritance? 

Mr. Stickney: I do. 

Mr. Bristow: What kind? 

Mr. Stickney: One that abides forever — not 
one that is bought with silver and gold or made 
with man's hands. 

Mr. Bristow: What kind of an inheritance 
should we leave our children and the generations 
that follow? 

Mrs. Mower: The benefits which come because 
of good works and good living. 

Mr. Bristow : If you have a good life, you will 
have a good name, will you, Judge Smith ? 

Judge Smith: I think so. 

Mr. Bristow: But we have known men of good 



APPENDIX E. 141 

lives that for a time seemed not to have borne the 
best of names ? 

Judge Smith : Yes ; I think so. As a rule, how- 
ever, the kind of name a man bears shows the 
character of his life. I think the world easily 
observes the good that is in people, and their vir- 
tues grow after them. 

Mr. Bristow: So we think more now of Wash- 
ington than many seem to have thought of him 
when he was living. We now come to the charge 
which David gave to his son. We will hear his 
charge to Solomon, as contained, in verse 9, read 
by Miss Burr. 

Miss Irene Burr read: 

"And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the 
God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect 
heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord 
seaxcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the im- 
aginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he 
will be found of thee ; but if thou forsake him, he 
will cast thee off forever." 

Mr. Bristow (referring to the blackboard) : In 
one of the divisions I have made everything but 
the direct charge is eliminated, and we have: 
"Know thou the God, . . . serve him: the 
Lord searcheth all hearts: ... if thou seek 
him, he will be found; . . . but if thou for- 
sake him, he will cast thee off forever." We must 
know God: we must serve him. He is a searcher 



142 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

of hearts. He can be found if we seek; lie cannot 
accept of us if we forsake. 

Miss White: I want to say, just here, to the 
club that the lesson containing these words made 
a great impression upon me when a child. 

Mr. Bristow: What was your impression, Miss 
White ? That is a good point. 

Miss White: The words, "If thou seek him, 
he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, 
he will cast thee off f o<rever," left a very deep and 
lasting impression upon me. I think, too, that 
this will be true of all children who hea.r these 
words; and they ought to be taught with special 
reference to making a right impression. 

Mr. Bristow: I wish you would all remember 
this impression of Miss White as she has related it. 
God is a searcher of hearts, and he wants heart 
service. 

Mr. Vaughn : Before leaving this thought about 
knowing God, I want to say that I think the ser- 
mon delivered by Dr. Greene last Sunday evening 
contained some splendid advice. His text was: 
"Acquaint now thyself with God, and be at peace." 

Mr. Bristow: If you had heard Dr. Greene on 
last Sunday evening, you would have been won- 
derfully helped by his presentation of the theme 
suggested by his text. 

Mrs. Barber : " He maketh even his enemies to 



APPENDIX E. 143 

be at peace/ 5 " Know " God — how are you going 
to "know" him? 

Mrs. Mower: "Ye shall . . . find me, 
when ye shall search for me with all your heart." 

Mrs. Mower then read a paper entitled " Heart 
Service/ 5 as follows : 
" c Do noble things, not dream them, all day long ; 

And so make life, death, and that vast forever 

One grand, sweet song/ 

" So sang Charles Kingsley. 

" Heart service — that is, a right heart attitude, 
prompting an earnest, whole-hearted service. 

" Have you observed what strong emphasis is 
placed on the heart in God's Book ? 

"'Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out 
of it are the issues of life/ 

" 'As he thinketh in his heart, so is he/ 

" ' Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth 
speaketh/ 

" ' Blessed are the pure in heart/ 

" There are many other passages. 

"Before an acceptable service to God can be 
rendered there must be a willing mind and a heart 
in close touch with its Maker, full of love toward 
him and for the creatures he has made. 

"An electric car rushes by, manned by one 
whose business it is to keep the car in touch with 
the unseen power, which, working through the 
car, carries it to its destination, accomplishing 



144 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

the purpose for which it was built. So with the 
soul; if it is in place, abiding in Christ, divine 
power flows in, energizing and strengthening it, 
inspiring and leading it forth into the service 
which will fulfill the purpose of its existence. 

" David said to Solomon : ' The Lord hath 
chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary : 
be strong, and do it/ 

" Every human being has a service to render to 
others. As Christians, we have been honored by 
our all-wise Father, who makes no mistakes. To 
each of us he has committed a trust which no 
other person can work out for us. It may be a 
Sunday-school class; a special branch of church 
or Sunday-school work; a gift of a keen, well- 
trained mind or a ready tongue; some degree of 
this world's goods; a well-ordered home; or chil- 
dren to train up into the full stature of manhood 
and womanhood. Whatever it is, he has put each 
in the place where he wishes us to serve. There- 
fore such employment, however humble, is digni- 
fied and is worthy of our noblest effort, because 
it is ' our Father's business/ 

" The work which God chooses for us will be 
delightful if done in the right spirit — simply, 
humbly, and earnestly. If the work frets or irri- 
tates us, it is our fault and is not pleasing to him. 

" Doubtless every one present knows from ex- 
perience the satisfaction and joy — yes, even hap- 



APPENDIX E. 145 

piness — that springs from the loving and unselfish 
performance of duty, even amid a life of trou- 
ble and many anxieties. 

" Difficulties ? Hindrances ? Yes. 

" The great forest tree that once bent to every 
breeze has grown strong through battling with ad- 
verse winds, until now not even the severest storms 
disturb its serenity. So with the soul; it grows 
strong and useful in the school of difficulty. 

" i Thou must be brave thyself 
If thou the truth would teach. 
Live truly, and thy life shall be 
A great and noble creed/ 

" What is the ministry for which the world cries 
out? 

"A man who gives only his thousands is not the 
true benefactor of his race; but the man who 
gives himself — his time, his strength, his soul — 
he it is that enters into heart sympathy with suf- 
fering humanity, comforting, uplifting, and serv- 
ing for the sake of the One who came to minis- 
ter rather than to be ministered unto. 

" ' The drying up of a single tear has more 
Of honest fame than shedding seas of gore/ 



at 



*As some one has said : ' The world has grown 
wise enough to see that nothing except a life can 
really help another life/ 



146 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

"In the material world we recognize a law of 
nature that nothing really dies or is lost, not even 
life itself ; there is only a change of form. So in 
the moral and spiritual world no good action or 
example dies. It goes on and on, leaving an in- 
delible stamp for time and eternity. 

" What a source of inspiration to the true heart 
to put away all that is mean, narrow, and selfish 
in thought, word, and deed! Endeavoring to 
catch God's thought concerning us, may we find 
a place among our fellows where we may try to 
express in daily life the inner and invisible things 
that God gives to those who will walk with him. 

" c The Lord hath chosen thee to build an house 
for the sanctuary : be strong, and do it/ " 

Mr. Bristow: Mr. Fry, will you read the last 
verse of the lesson ? 

Mr. E. F. Fry then read : 

" Take heed now; for the Lord hath chosen thee 
to build an house for the sanctuary: be strong, 
and do it." 

Mr. Bristow : General Shallenberger, the super- 
intendent of the school, is necessarily out of the 
city, but left a paper, which the secretary will 
now read. 

Miss Gertrude I. Millard, the secretary of the 
club, then read the following paper, prepared by 
General Shallenberger : 

"'Take heed now; for the Lord hath chosen 



APPENDIX E. 147 

thee to build an house for the sanctuary : be strong, 
and do it/ 

"These words were spoken by David to Solo- 
mon in the presence of a cloud of witnesses — a 
great national assembly of the princes of Israel, 
officers of the army, and chief men of valor. In 
verse 5 it is said: 

" c He hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon 
the throne of the kingdom of the Lord/ 

"Note: It is not the people who had chosen 
Solomon to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of 
Israel, but the Lord had chosen him c to sit upon 
the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel/ 

" I seem to hear David saying : 

"'Take heed, Solomon! Remember, you are 
only viceroy; the Lord Jehovah is King. He hath 
chosen you as his steward to build a house for the 
sanctuary. Serve your King, the real King of Is- 
rael, with a willing mind. Do not wait for him 
to drive you to the work assigned. As I have said 
to you in verse 9, I assume that you will seek him 
to find the clearest insight of the plans for the 
building of his house. Then, remembering the 
vows you assumed in the presence of this great 
cloud of witnesses; remembering that the vast 
wealth of treasure and the great army of loyal 
artisans at your disposal are doing the work of 
the Lord Jehovah; remembering that the king- 
dom he has chosen you to rule over is an everlast- 



148 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

ing kingdom, be strong to do, seeing that you rely 
not on your own strength/ 

" The full Christian exhortation suited to your 
need and to mine, fellow-teacher and steward of 
the great King, is. : 

" c Be strong in the Lord, and in the strength 
of his might/ " 

Mr. Bristow : Coming, now, to the last verse of 
the lesson, may I say to you with emphasis, " Take 
heed now; for the Lord hath chosen thee" — not 
to build a temple; not, perhaps, to do some great 
thing; but each one of you has been chosen to 
do something, each member of each individual 
class in Calvary Sunday school has been chosen 
to do something? What better lesson can you 
teach on Sunday morning than to impress all the 
members of your classes with the idea, that they are 
chosen for service, chosen to do something, let it 
be ever so small service, and that God has hon- 
ored them in choosing them, and they can honor 
him by doing what is put upon them ? There can 
be no better exhortation than that contained in 
these words : " Take heed now ; for the Lord hath 
chosen thee to " do something. " Be strong, and 
doit." 

In the remainder of chapter 28 and in chapter 
29, the one following that from which the lesson 
is selected, there are many things of interest in 
connection with the great gathering in David's 



APPENDIX E. 149 

palace to hear the king's charge to the people and 
to Solomon; but only one or two can be touched 
upon. 

The question is often asked: " Where did Da- 
vid get the dimensions of the temple to give to Sol- 
omon ? " The answer is found in 1 Chron. 28 : 
19 : " The Lord made me understand in writing 
by his hand upon me, even all the works of this 
pattern." 

David went on to say to his people: "I have 
gathered together a great abundance of treasure 
and material with which to build the temple." 
He then related how, out of love for the house of 
God, he had given over and above that which he 
had collected the sum of three thousand talents 
of gold and five thousand talents of silver, amount- 
ing to nearly six million dollars. Then he ap- 
pealed to his princes and his mighty men, many of 
whom were wealthy, to give of their substance. 
The response was worthy of the great cause; for 
they gave five thousand talents of gold and ten 
thousand drams of gold, ten thousand talents of 
silver, eighteen thousand talents of brass, and one 
hundred thousand talents of iron. It is stated 
that the gold and silver which David gave was to 
adorn the temple. This was the crowning of Dar 
vid's eventful life. He loved God, and he loved 
tho temples where God was honored. Nothing, 
with David, was too great to sacrifice for the honor 



150 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

of God's house. In these last days he turned away 
from all that was beautiful in the world and for- 
got his crown and his kingdom in his desire, which 
had so long been in his heart, to build a house 
for the Lord. After himself giving nearly six 
million dollars, he said to the people : " What will 
you do?" They responded with a vast sum of 
money, as I have stated, to beautify the finest tem- 
ple that was ever built upon the earth. 

I desire in this connection, for the purpose of 
emphasizing this point, to make a comparison. 
The Congressional Library is admitted to be one 
of the finest buildings in the world. About how 
much did it cost to build it? [Different answers 
were given, ranging from six million dollars to 
twelve million dollars.] 

Mr. BristO'W: It cost, as I understand it, be- 
tween six million dollars and seven million dollars. 

A Member of the Club: The State Department 
cost six million dollars. 

Mr. Bristow: Think of it! David gave nearly 
six million dollars to beautify the temple. That 
gives us some idea of the enormous, sums of money 
that it took to build the temple, known as " Solo- 
mon's temple." 

And now, as I am a little over the time, you will 
excuse me if, instead of having prayer, I ask you 
to take your Bibles and turn to 1 Chron. 29 and 
read verses 10-13, 20. We cannot think of a more 



APPENDIX E. 151 

beautiful prayer than the one David offered here. 
His heart was so thankful f o<r what God had dome 
for him that he broke forth in these words : 

"Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel our fa- 
ther, forever and ever. Thine, Lord, is the 
greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the 
victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the 
heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the 
kingdom, Lord, and thou art exalted as head 
above all. Both riches and honor come of thee, 
and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is 
power and. might; and in thine hand it is to make 
great, and to give strength unto all. Now there- 
fore, our God, we thank thee and praise thy glo- 
rious name. . . . And David said to all the 
congregation, Now bless the Lord your God. And 
all the congregation blessed the Lord God of their 
fathers, and bowed down their Beads, and wor- 
shiped the Lord, and the king." 

I wonder how many nations to-day have rulers 
who would dismiss such an assembly as this one 
with a religious service to God and with a prayer 
of thanksgiving for what he had done for them. 



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